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ALFRED *B* MALI 
CLARENCE 




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Santa Maria." — One of the Ships of Columbus. 
(From an exact reproduction built in 1892.) 



PANAMA 

AND THE CANAL 



ENLARGED EDITION 



By 
Alfred Bf i;Jall 

Instructor in History in The Hotchlciss School, Lakeville, Conn. 

and 

Clarence L// Chester 

Traveler and Explorer 



NEW YORK 

NEWS ON & COMPANY 

I 9 14 






Copyright, 1910, by 
NEWSON & COMPANY 

Copyright, 19 14, by 
NEWSON & COMPANY 



1522 



li'^ao^ 



W I9l9lf 

©CI,A387605 



INTEODUCTION 

"Castilla del Oro"- — Golden Castile — was the name 
given by Columbus to the Isthmus of Panama, in honor 
of Isabella, good queen of the old Spanish kingdom of 
Castile. Golden, indeed, it was to be, a land of treasure 
far beyond the dreams of the Great Discoverer. "Grave 
of the Spaniards" — the pioneers called it, who fought to 
win the treasure from savage Indians, cruel pirates, and 
a deadly climate. "Key to the Pacific" — some, too, have 
named it ; — as if, when Nature raised the broad continents 
of North and South America between the Atlantic and the 
Pacific, she originally planned a waterway at this con- 
venient spot to connect the two oceans ; and then, as an 
after-thought, threw in this bit of land, at its narrowest point 
scarcely thirty miles wide, and with its hills at one place 
only three hundred feet above the sea, as a challenge to the 
strength and skill of mankincL : 

Four hundred years ago men accepted the challenge. First 
Spain, then Scotland, England, and France poured out 
money and life in a vain effort to build a waterway and 
to defeat the powers of Nature. Last of all, the United 
States, led by a dauntless President, took up the fight. 



vi INTRODUCTION 

"This is the greatest engineering work the world has yet 
seen," said President Roosevelt, "but the Canal shall be 
built!" 

These names tell in short the story of the Isthmus. In 
all the Western Hemisphere no spot has had so romantic 
a history as this small strip of land that joins the two 
continents but separates the two greatest oceans of the 
world. 



PEEFACE 

In this little book the authors have attempted to present 
the history of Panama and of the Panama Canal in a man 
ner which will be interesting and intelligible to younger 
readers. As a possession of the United States the Canal 
Zone deserves attention from teachers of geography and 
history. The state of Panama itself has had a most dra- 
matic and thrilling history. And the Canal is not only a 
wonder of modern engineering but is also an American 
achievement of first importance. The story is full of 
important facts in history and geography and presents a 
fund of information of a distinctly educational character. 

For the early historical matter the authors have drawn 
freely upon such material as is found in Fiske's Discovery 
of America and in a large number of books of a similar 
character. Through the courtesy of the Isthmian Canal 
Commission, many records and pictures have been secured. 
These have been supplemented by photographs taken on 
the Isthmus and by personal observation and study in the 
Canal Zone. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

Page 

Introduction v 

PART I.— GOLDEN CASTILE 

Chapter 

I. A Route prom Europe to Asia 3 

II. Balboa and the Pacific 12 

III. Pizarro and the Gold of Peru 19 

PART II.— GRAVE OF THE SPANIARDS 

IV. The Pirates 27 

PART III.— MODERN PANAMA 

V. Land of the Cocoanut Tree .41 

VI. Natives and Animals 58 

VII. City of Panama 78 

PART IV.— KEY TO THE PACIFIC 

VIII. Roadways Across Central America 93 

IX. Waterways Across Central America 108 

X. The French at Panama 113 

XI. The United States and Panama 128 

XII. Conquest of Disease . 137 

XIII. Assembling a Working Force 156 

XIV. Machinery and the Panama Railroad 170 

XV. Sea-level and Lock Canals . .. . . .. .177 

XVI. The Lock Canal at Panama 186 

XVII. Building the Canal 194 

XVIII. The Gigantic Dam and Locks 218 

XIX. The Canal Completed 237 

XX. The Men Behind the Canal 254 

XXI. Future of Panama and the Canal 262 

ix 



PART I 
GOLDEN CASTILE 




Map I. — "The Portuguese Find a Route to Asia; 



CHAPTER I 

A ROUTE FROM EUROPE TO ASIA 

Every schoolboy today knows more of geography than 
the most learned man in Europe knew five hundred years 
ago. When Columbus was puzzling over his 

. The 

Latin books and learning to draw maps in the Portuguese 
schools of Genoa, Italy, no teacher could have fo°fs^^''"*® 
told him the real size and shape of the earth. 
A few persons believed that the earth was round like a 
globe but thought it much smaller than we now know it 
to be. The maps of that day marked with certainty only 
the continent of Europe, the Mediterranean Sea, a little 
of the north of Africa, and some of the western parts of 
Asia. What the remainder of Asia and Africa was like, 
no one could say. West of Europe was the Atlantic ocean, 
called the Sea of Darkness. No European ship was ever 
known to have crossed it. It was an ocean of unknown 
dangers. Sailors were afraid to try it. And as for North 
and South America and the Pacific ocean, stretching ten 
thousand miles beyond them, there was not the faintest 
idea that they existed. 

In those days, of course, there were no steamships nor 
railways. Nor was there any way for even small sailing 



WEALTH OF ASIA 



vessels to pass from the Mediterranean into the Indian 
ocean and so direct to India, China, and Japan. The 
journey to the East was difficult and dangerous. Pirates, 
Turks, and highway robbers, and many long miles through 

unknown lands frightened 
the boldest traveler. And 
yet there were a few, per- 
haps not over half a dozen, 
who had visited China and 
India, and had come back, 
like Marco Polo, with such 
tales of strange lands and 
rich cities as to fill Europe 
with wonder and surprise. 

In the markets of Genoa 
Columbus, no doubt, saw 
the valuable drugs and spices, handsome rugs and silks, and 
the almost priceless gold and jewels which the slow cara- 
vans brought out of Asia to the Mediterranean and there 
sold to the traders from European cities. These oriental 
goods were in great demand, and the merchants in Venice, 
Genoa, and other towns made immense profits in this trade. 
It is not strange that during the boyhood of Columbus 
men were curious to know more of the wondrous eastern 
coast of Asia, and were greedy for its wealth. If only some 
new, outside waterway to Asia could be found, its millions 
of people might be conquered and its riches brought cheaply 




Christopher Columbus. 



CAPE GOOD HOPE 5 

home to Europe. This was the great desire. Merchants 
and sailors, soldiers and priests, and even kings and queens 
hoped to share in the gold and glory of such a discovery. 

Twenty years before Columbus was born, Prince Henry 
of Portugal, called the Navigator, made up his mind that 
if a way around the southern end of Africa could be found, 
Portuguese ships might sail direct to India. For forty-five 
years this generous and devoted man denied himself the 
pleasures of the gay court of Portugal and devoted his life 
to the task of discovery. When he died in 1463 his daring 
sailors had explored the west coast of Africa for more 
than two thousand miles to Sierra Leone (Map I, p. 2). For 
years after his death his nephew. King John II, continued 
the explorations. In 1487 success rewarded these patient 
efforts. After a most remarkable voyage of at least thir- 
teen thousand miles, Bartholomew Diaz (De''ath) returned 
to Portugal with battered ships and worn-out crews, and 
reported that though he had not actually reached India, 
he had passed the southern cape of Africa and had sailed 
into the Indian ocean. "Let the cape be called Good 
Hope," said King John, "for now we have good hope that 
the long-sought ocean route to India has been found." 

We can scarcely imagine the interest which this discov- 
ery aroused in Europe, nor the envy with which the other 
kings looked upon this new Portuguese route and saw King 
John about to secure the riches of Asia for himself and 
his country. 



6 A BOLD PLAN 

Now it happened that Christopher Columbus and his 

younger brother Bartholomew had become not only expert 

map makers but also excellent seamen. Co- 

Columbus 

and the lumbus tclls US that he went to sea when scarcely 

Rout°e*^'^ fourteen years old. About 1470 they left their 

home in Italy, went to Portugal, and joined the 
expeditions down the coast of Africa. In fact, Bartholomew 
was a seaman on the ships of Diaz, when the great journey 
was made around Cape Good Hope. It was now clear to 
all that the Portuguese had found a route to Asia but that 
it must be at best very long and tedious. Africa proved 
to be much longer than was expected. 

In 1484 Christopher Columbus had made the astonishing 
proposal to King John that ships be given him for a voyage 
directly westward across the Atlantic. He declared that 
if the earth were really round, Asia could surely be reached 
in that way; and that instead of a route by Cape Good 
Hope of at least ten thousand miles, a journey west of only 
two thousand five hundred miles, as he figured it, would 
bring him to the rich island of Japan. The idea was not 
new, though few believed in it; but the courage to make 
the journey was new. King John was struck with the 
boldness of the plan, but his advisers declared that it was 
certain to be a failure. The ships were not given him, 
and Columbus in disgust departed hastily from Portugal 
to offer himself and his great idea to Ferdinand and Isa- 
bella, king and queen of Spain. 



VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS 7 

We all know the remainder of the story, — eight long years 
of delays, disappointments, poverty, and ridicule; the final 
favorable decision of Queen Isabella; and the three little 
ships that set out from Palos on a Friday morning in 
August 1492, for the most notable journey ever made across 
the seas. 

We know, too, the intense excitement in Spain upon his 
return with news that he had crossed the Atlantic and had 
discovered some islands which he believed to be close to 
the coast of Asia. Honors were heaped upon him and 
he became the hero of the hour. Seventeen ships and 
fifteen hundred men at once prepared to set out for further 
discovery. Everyone supposed that Spain had beaten 
Portugal in the race for the untold riches of Asia. Now it 
was the turn of King John to be envious. Alas for poor 
Columbus ! Though he did not know it, he had not reached 
Asia after all, only Haiti and Cuba! 

This second trip lasted many months and proved most 
disappointing. The West India Islands were explored, 
thousands of fierce cannibal Indians encountered, but there 
were no rich cities nor coasts of Asia nor ship-loads of 
wealth brought back to Spain. Columbus's enemies now 
began to call him a humbug and to plot his ruin. And 
the king, too, began to think that his voyages were of 
little value after all. Yet a third voyage was made in 
1497. At t^^ same time a number of other Spanish cap- 
tains crossed the Atlantic on similar voyages of discovery. 



BETWEEN TWO OCEANS 




Map II. — Columbus and the Isthmus. 



TRIUMPH OF DA GAMA 9 

Hundreds of miles of the coasts of North and South America 
were explored. A little gold was found and some Indians 
captured to be sold as slaves; but the ships returned with 
no "shorter route" to Asia discovered and with the sad 
tidings of the horrible death of hundreds of Spaniards at 
the hands of the fierce Indians of the West Indies. 

Imagine, then, the feelings of King Ferdinand and of 
Columbus, when the news came, in the summer of 1499, 
that Vasco da Gama, in the service of King John, had 
sailed around Africa by the Portuguese route and had 
actually reached India, had seen its rich cities, and brought 
back his ships to Portugal loaded with silks, satins, ivory, 
spices, rubies, and emeralds. Asia had been reached! 
How mean Columbus's voyages now looked in comparison 
with this triumph! 

Portugal had won the race by the longer African route. 
No wonder that men began to doubt the existence of Co- 
lumbus's "shorter route." Not so Columbus. „ , ^ 

Columbus 

He was now an old man, poor and sick ; but and the 

his noble spirit still clung to the belief that 
somewhere, through the new lands that he had found, there 
must be a waterway that would lead him on to Asia. Spain 
must do something to offset the triumph of Portugal. So 
it came about that the king and queen sent him from Cadiz, 
on the nth of May, 1502, on his fourth and last voyage. 

In June he reached the West Indies, and in July the 
Cape of Honduras south of Yucatan (Map II). For five 



EVIDENCES OF GOLD 



months he proceeded southward down the coast, encoun- 
tering head winds and wretched weather, but encouraged 
because he found the Indians there Hving in large stone 
houses, possessed of much good pottery and copper tools, 




'The Beautiful Harbor of Porto Bello." 



and well clothed in brightly-colored cotton garments. There 
were plentiful evidences of gold, too, and many natives 
were seen with plates of gold suspended from their necks. 
Surely the rich lands of Asia could not be far away! On 
down the coast the vessels went, until they reached the 
Isthmus of Panama. Here the low hills, clothed with dense 
tropical forests, rose but little above the sea. Each bay 



NO WATERWAY ii 

and river was now carefully explored, especially the Chagres 
river, up which Columbus went to its sources, and was at 
one time but fifteen miles from the Pacific! The beautiful 
harbor of Porto Bello (Good Harbor) was entered and 
named on November 2, 1502. Still no passage to the west 
was found. Already the sailors were grumbling; the food 
was almost gone; and the vessels were worm-eaten 
and hard to manage. Yet the determined man pressed on 
mile after mile, hoping against hope. But in December, 
having passed along the entire coast of Panama, and 
being completely discouraged at finding no westward pas- 
sage, he was forced to turn about and head for Cuba. A 
year of shipwreck, a sad return to Spain, two years of 
neglect and misery ended the life of this great seaman in 
1506. There was no waterway through Panama. The 
Isthmus had conquered the noblest of all discoverers. 



CHAPTER II 

BALBOA AND THE PACIFIC 

The schoolbooks tell us that the first white man to prove 
that Panama was but a narrow strip of land and that a 
great ocean lay to the west of it, — was the Spanish cava- 
lier Balboa. Perhaps few of us know that this great dis- 
coverer set out for Panama in a barrel. Balboa in a 
barrel! Such an amusing way of reaching the Isthmus 
deserves a word of explanation. 

When the Spaniards began to doubt if they could reach 
Asia by a westward waterway, they determined at least 
Th s aniards ^° conqucr the ncwly-discovcrcd lands and to 
Settle in sccure their gold. Ships began at once to sail 

to Panama. There they found gold in plenty 
in the sand of the rivers and returned to Spain heavily 
loaded. Within a year King Ferdinand created two prov- 
inces on these coasts — one, from the Atrato river eastward 
(Map II, p. 8), was given to the discoverer Ojeda (0-ha'tha) ; 
the other, the Isthmus of Panama — called Golden Castile — 
was given to a court favorite Nicuesa (Ne-koo-'asa). 
These two governors set sail with parties of settlers in 
1509. 

On reaching the eastern shore of his province Ojeda 



FAMINE AND SICKNESS 



13 



rashly went ashore with seventy men to catch some Indians 
for slaves. A fierce fight followed and all but Ojeda and 
one companion were killed by the savages. Thus began 
the bloody struggle with 
the natives, which was to 
continue for many years 
and to end only when 
the latter were nearly de- 
stroyed. 

The remainder of Oje- 
da's party had scarcely 
built their miserable little 
settlement at San Sebas- 
tian (Map II, p. 8), when 
they began to die of famine 
and sickness. Ojeda at once 
left the party in charge 
of Francisco Pizarro and 
sailed for Santo Domingo 
on the island of Haiti for 
supplies. Now it hap- 
pened that in Santo Domingo there lived a handsome 
young man heels over head in debt, and in terror lest 
he be sent to prison. He contrived to hide himself in a 
barrel and was rolled on board the ships that were about 
to set off with food for the starving men at San Sebastian. 
Days passed. And when Santo Domingo and his debts 




Vasco Nunez de Balboa. 



14 



A CENTER OF WORLD INTEREST 




Map III. — "The Spaniards Settle in Panama.' 



NICUESA 



15 



were left far behind, to the disgust of the captain, out 
crawled the gay Balboa from his barrel. Surely his courage 
deserved a better fate than was in store for him at Panama. 

San Sebastian was relieved, its survivors deserted the 
Tanhappy spot, and joined 
the new-comers to build a 
new town called Santa 
Maria. It was the first on 
the Isthmus. The ener- 
getic Balboa soon became 
the leader of this settle- 
ment (Map III). 

Terrible misfortunes 
also befell Nicuesa's party. 
They made a landing on 
the Isthmus and built a set- 
tlement which they called 
Nombre de Dios (Norn'- 
bra-da-De'os) — ^Name . of 
God. In a few months, of 
seven hundred men, only 
Nicuesa and sixty-nine 
others were left. Scarcely 

a white settlement in all America can show a more dreadful 
record of death, — nine dead out of every ten. And Nicuesa 
with the sixty-nine had become "filthy and horrible to 
behold," and nearly mad for lack of food. At last, in two 




The So-called Balboa Tree. From Its 
Top Both Atlantic and Pacific can 
BE Seen. 



i6 



MORE TREASURE 



small boats, they sailed east to Santa Maria. There the 
settlers were so afraid of Nicuesa that they would not let 
him land. With seventeen followers he set out again to 

sea and was never heard 
from. 

After such awful suffer- 
ings it is surprising that 
the few Spaniards who re- 
mained did not speedily 
leave Panama and return 
to Spain. One thing kept 
them at Santa Maria. A 
nearby Indian chief, by 
name Comogre, made 
friends with Balboa and 
gave him seventy slaves 
and a large quantity of 
gold. The story is that as 
the Spaniards were weigh- 
ing the treasure and quar- 
relling as to how it should be divided, the Indians were as- 
tonished at their excitement. We know that the natives used 
their gold only for ornaments and knew little of its value. A 
son of the chief told Balboa that if the Spaniards prized 
the yellow metal so highly, they should cross the mountains 
to a great sea, where, far to the south, people lived who had 
no end of the precious metal. Fired with excitement at this 




View of Atlantic from Balboa Tree. 



THE GREATEST OCEAN 



17 



news of more gold, the settlers were willing to remain. 
Balboa planned to cross the mountains and to see for him- 
self if a way could not be found to the land of treasure. 

Some months later, in September, 15 13, with 
two hundred men, he plunged into the tropical ^^® Pacific 

^ r o r Discovered 

forest. On the 25th of that month, from a high 
point of land on the Isthmus, he and his men looked with 
astonishment at a vast ex- 
panse of water stretching 
off to the west and south 
as far as eye could see. 
Four days later, on the 29th, 
having reached the water's 
edge, Balboa claimed pos- 
session, for the king of 
Spain, of the greatest ocean 
on the globe. 

Eager to make further 
plans, Balboa hurried back 
to Santa Maria, only to 
find to his dismay that fif- 
teen hundred greedy ad- 
venturers had arrived from 
Spain, — all bent on shar- 
ing in the conquest of the golden country. With this com- 
pany came also a new governor for the Isthmus. This 
man, Pedrarias, has been called a "two-legged tiger." He 




View of Pacific from Balboa Tree. 



i8 AN UNTIMELY END 

was one of the most evil and brutal men ever sent by Spain 
to the New World. At once jealous of Balboa, he did all in 
his power to prevent his expedition to the golden country. 
But Balboa pressed on his preparations. His energy was 
amazing. By 151 7 he had forced the Indians to cut a road- 
way through the dense jungles and to carry four ships, piece 
by piece, across to the Pacific ; had put them together again ; 
and was ready to sail down the coast of South America. 
Two thousand Indians are said to have perished in this task. 
But here Balboa's career was to come to an untimely end. 
The hatred of Pedrarias could allow him to go no further. 

He was arrested, tried on a false charge of trea- 
BaiboV^ son, and beheaded by order of the governor. 

So perished the first white man to cross Pan- 
ama, — the Discoverer of the Pacific. Others must find the 
golden country. 



CHAPTER III 



PIZARRO AND THE GOLD OF PERU 

For the next seven years the Spaniards were satisfied to 
secure the treasure that was to be had near at hand. In 
1 5 19 Pedrarias began to build the city of Panama on the 
Pacific and to connect this 
with the Atlantic by a road 
across the Isthmus, first to 
Nombre de Dios and later 
to Porto Bello (Map III, p. 
14). The Pearl Islands in 
the Gulf of Panama were 
conquered and their chief 
gave the governor at one 
time, we are told, " a basket 
full of pearls weighing one 
hundred and ten pounds, 
— whereof some were as 
big as hazelnuts. One of 
these alone was later sold 
for one thousand two hun- 
dred ducats (about $1,500)." The Spanish also seized 
Nicaragua. Everywhere gold was forced from the natives 

19 




26 



FRANCISCO PIZARRO 



by every manner of fiendish cruelty that men mad with 

greed could devise. They were made slaves. They died 
by thousands. But now from Panama ships 
began to sail away to Spain with heavy car- 
goes of treasure and many Spaniards returned 

in them to swell the population of Panama. 

But this was only the beginning. In 1524 Francisco Pi- 

zarro received permission to take up again the plans for dis- 



Spanish 

Treasure 

Ships 




Descendants of the Incas of Peru. Old Inca Masonry in Background. 



covering the golden kingdom away off to the south. This 
distant land the Spaniards called Peru. It extended south 
of the equator for more than a thousand miles down the 



DISTANT LAND OF PERU 



21 



western coast of South America, and was the richest and 
most highly developed of any part of the New World. Here 
were well-built towns, with palaces and temples of strange 



mM^ 






^^^F /'A 



Bridge Still Standing on the Old Road from Panama to Porto Bello. 



and splendid workmanship. Here were fine roads, fertile 
fields, and millions of people. And here, too, were mines 
of gold and silver from which the rulers, called Incas (Ing'- 
kas), had gathered an almost unbelievable store of metal. 

We cannot here tell the long and thrilling 
story of the hardships suffered by Pizarro and 
his men. No one can read it without being 
amazed by the reckless daring which finally brought them 
to the coast of Peru. Nor is this the place for the sad story 



Conquest 
of Peru 



22 THE GbLDEN KINGDOM 

of the conquest. Horses and bloodhounds the natives had 
never seen before and were intensely afraid of them. Their 
weapons, too, were no match for the swords and firearms of 
the Spaniards. And so there followed in Peru the same 
greedy scramble for gold as at Panama, — the same torture, 
massacre, treachery, and slavery. 

The enormous wealth that now fell into the hands of Pi- 
zarro's men is difficult to estimate. We are told that when 
one of the rulers of Peru was held prisoner by the Spaniards 
in a room twenty-two feet long by seventeen feet wide, "he 
made a mark on the wall as high as he could reach with his 
hand, and offered as ransom gold enough to fill the room up 
to that height." The offer was accepted and more than 
$15,000,000 in gold was thus secured. Another ruler was 
promised his freedom for a similar amount. After it was 
collected, he was treacherously murdered. Immense quan- 
tities of silver were also secured. 

Here, indeed, was the Golden Kingdom and Spain pro- 
ceeded to make the most of it. Peru and, in fact, the whole 
west coast of South America was slowly but surely con- 
quered. Spanish towns were built and Spanish authority 
established. The natives were forced to work the mines. 
Vast quantities of gold, silver, and tropical products were 
shipped north to the city of Panama, to cross the Isthmus 
to Porto Bello, where fleets of Spanish ships came each year 
to convey them home to Spain. A fine stone road now con- 
nected Porto Bello and Panama. The two cities were 



THE CITY ON THE ISTHMUS 23 

strongly fortified, and the latter, in particular, became one 
of the greatest and richest in America. The fortunate situ- 
ation of the city on the Isthmus made it a most important 
center of Spanish power, "It contained two thousand large 
buildings and five thousand smaller, — all of which were three 
stories high, and were elegantly constructed and 
richly furnished. Its merchants lived in great Panama" 

opulence, their houses rich in articles of gold 
and silver, adorned with beautiful paintings and other works 
of art, and full of the luxuries of the age." "The pros- 
perity of Panama was the wonder and envy of the world." 

Moreover, the wealth of America filled to overflowing the 
treasuries of Spain. Once a poor and weak country, she 
now was rich and powerful. Her ships ruled the seas and 
her soldiers were the finest in Europe. Within fifty years 
after the death of Columbus, the commands of the emperor 
of Spain were law for more than half of Europe. 



PART II 
GRAVE OF THE SPANIARDS 



CHAPTER IV 

THE PIRATES 

"Cheaply bought, dear in the end/' is an old Spanish 
proverb. The hidden treasure of America, opened as if 
by magic, and the sudden rise of Spain to „„ ^ ^„ 

J o J r Effect of Her 

power, let loose the harsh and evil traits of Conquests 

Til n °° Spain 

character that were m the end to corrupt aJl 
classes. In the New World, where murder, theft, and 
slavery were the rule, men came to despise honest labor. 
This same spirit soon showed itself in the mother country. 
Enterprise and industry declined. Pride and tyranny in 
America bred bad government at home. The rulers seemed 
mad with a desire to crush out all liberty in their wide 
empire. "It was an ill fortune," says one writer, "that led 
the Spaniards to those parts of America in which the pre- 
cious metals were found, for the ruin of their own country 
was hastened by the cruel plundering of Peru." 

Spain conquered Portugal in 1580 and so came to con- 
trol with iron hand nearly all the commerce on all the 
oceans. This drove both the Dutch and the English to make 
war. For more than two hundred years the Spanish were 
obliged to fight almost constantly to hold what they had 

won. Their soldiers and sailors were brave enough, as we 

27 



28 THE PRINCE OF PIRATES 

know, but corruption and mismanagement at home meant 
defeat for Spain abroad. 

Her possessions in America were most open to attack 
and were now more and more poorly defended by half- 
paid and half-starved troops. French, English, and Dutch 
pirates began to infest the West Indies and to lie in wait 
for the rich merchant vessels and treasure ships that sailed 
between Spain and Panama. So bold were these pirates 
and so numerous their ships and men, that Spain was 
helpless, and her commerce was ruined. Captain Sharp, 
Lewis Scott, Davies, and Dampier were pirates at the very 
mention of whose names Spaniards trembled. 

But the prince of pirates or buccaneers, as they are 
sometimes called, was Henry Morgan. The account of 
his exploits at Panama makes the tales of pirates 
M^Ian ^^ ^^^ storybooks seem tame indeed. Born in 

Wales, he ran away to sea when still a mere 
boy, was sold as a slave, joined the pirates, became a leader, 
and took part in many wild adventures. 

At length he determined to attack Porto Bello and 
assembled nine ships and four hundred and sixty men, — 
a motley band of cut-throats. The town was so large and 
so well protected by two strong forts at the mouth of the 
harbor, that Morgan scarcely dared at first to tell his men 
to what place he proposed to take them. But so skillfully 
and secretly did they approach the harbor that they were 
able to surprise, seize, and blow up one of the forts. The 



PORTO BELLO PLUNDERED 



29 



sound of the explosion caused wild panic in the town. 
The garrison of the other fort fought with great courage, 
though unable long to resist the furious attacks of Morgan's 
men. No quarter was given, the town was set on fire, and 




"Ruined Fort with Its Guns and Waxchtowers." 

those of the inhabitants who were not able to escape to 
the forests, perished in the streets or burning buildings. 
For fifteen days the pirates gave themselves up to every 
manner of debauchery in the enjoyment of their plunder. 
About all that was left of the flourishing town of Porto 
Bello was the ruined fort with its guns and watchtowers. 
Today they can still be seen much overgrown by the trop- 
ical jungle. 



so 



SAN LORENZO WAS CAPTURED 




Copyright by U}ideriuood &• Underwood. 

Interior of Fort San Lorenzo. 



" Cloud-crested San Lorenzo guards 

The Chagres' entrance still, 
Tho' o'er each stone dense moss hath grown, 

And earth his moat doth fill." 



MARCH ACROSS THE ISTHMUS 31 

Before he left Morgan sent an insulting messa.ge to the 
governor of Panama, to the effect that he would soon return 
and do to Panama what he had done to Porto „., , 

City of 

Bello. True to his word, he returned in 1671. Panama 
News of the great booty captured at Porto 
Bello, and of the still greater expedition now planned, had 
attracted pirates from far and near. Thirty-seven ships 
and two thousand men were soon under Morgan's command. 

" On the Spaniards' beach they landed, 
Dead to pity, void of fear, — 
Round their blood-red flag embanded, 
Led by Morgan the Buccaneer." 

This time it was at the mouth of the Chagres river and 
the powerful fort, San Lorenzo, was captured. Chagrestown 
was destroyed and the pirates continued up the river as 
far as they could go. Then came such a nine days' march 
overland as only hardy pirates could have endured. Mor- 
gan had failed to bring any food for his men and the Span- 
iards had not only made the road nearly impassable but 
had also carefully burned everything that could be eaten. 
At last, from a high point of land the buccaneers looked 
down upon the lovely harbor and beautiful city of Panama. 
"In a valley below the eminence upon which they stood, 
herds of cattle peacefully grazed. The pirates rushed 
among the animals and, slaughtering them, devoured their 
flesh raw. After this savage feast they pushed on and 



z^ 



A STRANGE BATTLE 



soon the plain of Panama lay before them with the city 
on the further side." 

Old Panama was not a walled city. Therefore the gov- 
ernor had collected his four regiments of soldiers and two 




Oldest Spanish Church Still in Use on the Isthmus. 



hundred cavalry on the open plain outside the town. Here 
he had collected also a herd of two thousand wild bulls, 
with Indians to drive them headlong against the ranks of the 
pirates. In the fight that now began these bulls caused the 
greatest confusion. The pirates succeeded in turning them 
back upon the Spaniards, but the latter held their ground 
for two full hours of furious battle. When the cavalry 



RUIN OF OLD PANAMA 



33 



had been routed and at least a thousand men lay dead on 
the field, the ranks of the defenders at last broke, muskets 
were thrown away, and a wild rush for the town began. 

Not even the great guns of the Spaniards could check 
the invaders. In three hours more they were in possession 
of the city. Immediately the dwellings and public build- 
ings were set on fire, and flames and smoke added to the 
horrors of robbery and massacre. Few of the inhabitants 




City Walls of New Panama. 



escaped death or capture. Then, amid the ruins, for a 
full month, the captors indulged in such acts of torture and 
debauchery as only the imagination can picture. 



34 



AN ANCIENT LANDMARK 




Massive Tower of Saint Augustin. 



SIR HENRY MORGAN 



35 



Finally the return march began. One hundred and 
seventy-five mules and six hundred prisoners helped to 
carry the plunder back across the Isthmus to the ships, 





^^^^ . ^;^-^^ 


■:?»: 


'("<- : 'TSS-X 










W^^ 








'"W 


^, 










^^^^^ 




1 


,# 


n 




1* 

^3 


r 


Hk^a 



Wall of Tower of St. Augustin. — Note Thickness of Masonry. 

where the final division was to be made. But with the 
base and cunning treachery of a true pirate, Morgan and 
a few friends, while their comrades slept at Chagrestown, 
loaded a vessel to the water's edge with the most valuable 
part of the spoil and sailed away to the English island of 
Jamaica. Strange to say, the outrageous acts of this 
brutal man were readily forgiven him by King Charles II 
of England, and he lived to be honored and knighted as 
Sir Henry Morgan. 



36 THE END OF SPANISH RULE 

The massive tower of the cathedral church of Saint 
Augustin, whose bells "rang out their clear chimes 
one hundred years before the Pilgrim Fathers landed 
on Plymouth Rock," alone struggles, amid rank vege- 
tation, to mark the sight of the once golden city of 
Panama. 

The fall of the city of Panama marked the beginning of 
the end of Spain's power in the New World. Though the 
Spaniards soon built a new town, the present city of Pan- 
ama, five miles west of the old site and spent, 
Panama ^^ ^^ ssiid, more than eleven million dollars to 

protect it by huge walls of masonry, the trade 
and wealth and glories of the older days never returned. 
The province of Panama, from which so much of Spain's 
great possessions had once been ruled, was soon to be one 
of nine departments of the province of Colombia, and to 
be ruled from the capital at Bogota. 

A century of slumber and decay followed. As Spain's 
power in Europe declined, her rule in America became 
more than ever oppressive. When our great-grandfathers, 
led by George Washington, fought for freedom from Eng- 
land, the spirit of liberty was spreading in South America. 
While Washington was President of the United States, the 
famous patriot Simon Bolivar was born in Venezuela. 
Colombia declared herself free from Spain in 1811. By 
1824 Bolivar had put an end forever to Spanish rule in 
South America. The Isthmus remained a part of Colombia 



THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA 



37 



until 1903, when it became the independent Republic of 
Panama. 

From Columbus on for more than three hundred years, 
Spain had held the Isthmus. Its possession had been, 
indeed, " dear in the end," — a real " Grave of the Spaniards." 



PART III 
MODERN PANAMA 



CHAPTER V 

LAND OF THE COCOANUT TREE 

" Away down south in the Torrid Zone, 

North latitude nearly nine, 
Where the eight months' pour once past and o'er, 

The sun four months doth shine; 
Where 'tis eighty-six the year around. 

And people rarely agree; 
Where the plantain grows and the hot wind blows, 

Lies the Land of the Cocoanut Tree." 

The history of Panama thus far has brought us on through 
stories of the brave old days of romance and adventure, of 
treasure ships and daring pirates, of Spanish rule and ruin, 
to modern Panama. There are stories of romance and 
daring, in no way less thrilling, yet to be told; but we 
shall understand them better, if we first make a visit 
to the Isthmus to see for ourselves what this interesting 
strip of land is like. This will not be a difficult journey, 
for comfortable ships from New Orleans or New York 
will take us to Colon, its northern port, in less than a 
week. And Panama is a small country, too, only four 
hundred and twenty-five miles long, two-thirds the size of 

41 



42 THE ISTHMUS 

Pennsylvania, and not quite so large as the state of Indiana 
(Map IV). 

Our ideas of its geography will, no doubt, need some 
correction. We usually think of South America as some- 
where directly south of the central part of the 

Geography- 
United States, and of the Isthmus, as running 

north and south between the two continents. It is surprising 
to find that nearly all of Panama is further east than Florida 
• — (Map I, p. 2), and that the City of Panama is no further 
west than Pittsburg. The Isthmus, too, is shaped like a flat 
letter S and really runs about east and west — (Map III, p. 
14). At Colon, on the Atlantic side, the sun rises over the 
land and sets over the ocean, — ^just the opposite of our ex- 
pectation. Someone has said very truly that there always 
seems to be "something crooked about the Isthmus." 

Panama is only nine degrees north of the equator, and 

so has in all respects a tropical climate. The average 

temperature for the entire year in the prin- 

Climate ^ . 

cipal cities of the United States is about 55° 
(Fahrenheit) above zero. In New Orleans it is 67°; in 
Boston, 50°. In Panama we must be prepared for many 
days in which the temperature reaches nearly 100°, and for 
nights that seldom are below 74°. The average for the 
year is considerably above 80°, — or 30° hotter than Chicago. 
In the United States we are accustomed to four seasons 
during the year, with extremes of heat in summer and of 
cold in winter. There are two seasons at Panama, but sum- 



REPUBLIC OF PANAMA 



43 




Map IV. — The Republic oe Panama. 



44 



TWO SEASONS 



mer temperature continues the whole year through. The 
two seasons depend not upon the heat but upon the rain- 
fall. For eight months, from May to December, great 




U. S. Battleship in Harbor of Colon. 



masses of rain clouds are blown across the Isthmus from 
ocean to ocean, and terrific downpours of rain occur almost 
daily. The whole land is drenched for long periods. 
The inside of the driest houses becomes damp and musty. 
Books mold on the shelves, linen loses its stiffness, iron 
rusts, and the air is everywhere heavy with moisture. Then, 
beginning about the first of January, comes the dry season 
of four months. Yet the name "dry season" is deceptive, 



RAINFALL 



45 



for even during that period showers are frequent. The 
fact is, Panama is one of the wettest places in the world 
and is thoroughly damp the year round. 

On the Pacific side six feet of water fall in a year, and 
on the Atlantic side, fully twelve feet. This is three times 
as much as falls in a year's time in Boston and fourteen 
times as much as in El Paso, Texas. Someone has said 
that if the rain that falls at Colon in a year came all at 




■ Manzanillo Lighthouse Rising Above Them." 



once, a very tall man, standing on the shoulders of another 
equally tall, could scarcely raise the top of his head to the 
surface. 



46 



APPROACH TO THE ISTHMUS 



If it be the dry season, the approach to the Isthmus by 

steamer is not without beauty. Great masses of white 

clouds drift lazily over the low erreen hills that 

Colon ^ ^ 

rise one above another from the sea-coast. Here 
and there bold headlands and deep bays can be seen, 
and many small islands seem almost to float like ships upon 
the blue waters of the Caribbean. Off in the distance is the 
mouth of the Chagres river, and straight ahead, the harbor 





f*'S»;^s^^^ 



Steamers at Colon Docks. 



and town of Colon, with Manzanillo lighthouse rising above 
them. In the harbor and at the docks are scores of ships; 
for even now more than one hundred thousand travelers 



UNATTRACTIVE COLON 47 

and a million tons of merchandise cross the Isthmus each 
year. 

Colon is the Spanish form of the word Columbus and 




Copyright by Underwood & Utideriuood. 

Colon — Before it was Cleaned by the United States. 

is the name given to the town by the government of Colombia 
in honor of the Discoverer. On his last journey to America 
Columbus entered Colon harbor in November of 1502 and 
called it Bahia de los Navios. 

In the town of Colon itself, we shall be greatly disap- 
pointed. It would be hard to imagine a less interesting 
and attractive place. How low and small and dirty it 
is ! The land on which it is built is but two or three feet 



48 A JOURNEY ACROSS PANAMA 

above sea-level and behind it for miles are dreary and 
unhealthful swamps. Certainly it was a great mistake to 
build a tow^n on such a spot. A tremendous amount of 
filling in with rock and soil has been done in order to make 
it in any sense a decent place to live in. Low frame houses ; 
narrow, ill-smelling streets; a population of a few thousand 
people of many nationalities; and little or nothing of 
interest to be seen, make Colon an unpleasant introduc- 
tion to a visit on the Isthmus. 

Leaving Colon behind we shall pass on into the interior 

of the country and finally across to the larger and more 

attractive City of Panama on the Pacific coast. 

The Interior 

These two towns and the country lying between 
them are about all of the Isthmus that is seen by the usual 
traveler. Much of the remaining country is almost im- 
possible to visit. There are few roads and many hundred 
square miles even now are unexplored and uninhabited. 
The whole population of Panama is about 350,000. Out- 
side of Colon and the City of Panama the inhabitants are 
scattered about the Isthmus in many small villages, mostly 
on the sea-coast. 

We may find it confusing at first that both the country 
and its chief city are called Panama. To avoid difficulty 
we shall always speak of the latter as the City of Panama. 

A low backbone of hills, called the Cordillera de Bando, 
extends throughout the length of the Isthmus. Only at a 
few points do these hills become real mountains. The 



1 



RIVER AND VILLAGE 



49 




50 TROPICAL VEGETATION 

greater part is low and rolling. In the flat, winding val~ 
leys between the hills are many small rivers. The prin- 
cipal ones are the Rio Tuyra, Rio Grande, Rio Chepo, and 
the Rio Chagres, The latter flows into the Atlantic and 
is next to the longest and largest. (Rio means river in 
Spanish.) In the dry season the rivers are little more 
than small streams, pushing sluggishly through their swampy 
channels toward the sea. The Chagres is then about two 
hundred feet wide and three or four feet deep. But in the 
rainy season the rivers become raging torrents, flooding 
miles of land. The Chagres has been known to rise thirty 
feet in one night, and for days at a time it sweeps away 
all in its path. 

In the interior of the country, away from Colon, there 
is much to see of great interest, especially to those of us 
who have never been in the tropics. With a hot climate, 
rich soil, and much moisture, almost the whole of Panama, 
up to the very hill-tops, is covered with a tangled jungle, 
in which nearly every form of tropical vegetation flourishes 
in rank luxuriance. 

Everywhere we see flowers of most brilliant coloring. 
And ferns, shrubs, and vines make a thick undergrowth. 
There are many strange trees, too, unknown to more 
northern lands. Here is a bunch of bamboo trees, — 
and there, a tree called the coco-bolo. The wood of the 
latter is very hard and beautiful. Considerable quanti- 
ties of it are shipped annually to the United States. Per- 



SOMEWHAT PERILOUS 



51 




Copyright by Underwood &' Underwood. 

"The Natives Climb tor Them." 



52 



PANAMA COCOANUTS 



Palm Trees 



haps, if we should ask someone who knows, we should find 
that the handles on our knives are often made of coco-bolo. 
Fine cedar and mahogany trees also furnish valuable tim- 
ber, and a certain kind of palm nuts, called ivory nuts, 

are shipped away to be 
made into buttons. 

In the United States elms, 
maples, pines, and oaks are 
the most common and beauti- 
ful trees. On the Isthmus 
their places are 
taken by the 
palm trees. Along the roads 
and in the parks and gardens 
we shall see the royal palm 
lifting its graceful branches 
on a slender trunk high into 
the air. This palm bears 
no fruit and is useful only 
for ornament or shade. But the cocoanut palm is both 
ornamental and useful, for its nuts are collected by the 
natives to be sold or used as food. Several million cocoa- 
nuts are sent to our markets at home each year. No 
doubt we have many times eaten Panama cocoanuts. 
Here we shall see how they grow. All over the Isthmus 
are cocoanut palms, both wild and cultivated, in great 
abundance. They seem much like the royal palms in 




Copyright by Underwood &" UfiderTvooa, 

Negroes with Cocoanuts. 



A TROPICAL GARDEN 



53 




Copyright by Underwood & Underwood. 

"Heavy Bunch or Fruit." 



54 A HANDSOME PLANT 

shape but are not usually so tall. Up there, underneath the 
fronds or branches and close to the trunk, we can see a 
bunch of half a dozen or more large, oval-shaped objects. 
They look like great, dark-colored eggs. Each is a cocoa- 
nut wrapped in a thick green covering or husk, much as 
chestnuts are wrapped in the burs. When partially ripened 
the cocoanut shell and husk are soft pulp and the interior 
is full of a rich, sweet milk. It is then that the natives 
climb for them. The picture shows three cocoanuts in 
husks on the shoulder of one negro, while the other negro 
is cutting away the husk and soft shell in order to get at 
the delicious milk. When the cocoanuts are fully ripe, 
they drop from the trees. The husk is then dry and can 
be easily torn off and the cocoanut at last appears as we 
are accustomed to see it in our fruit stores. 

There is also a tree-like plant that is sure to give us a 

surprise. It grows to the height of fifteen or twenty feet, 

with a soft trunk marked with purple stripes. 

Bananas . . - 

and with immense broad leaves often six feet 
long. There is nothing in our northern climate that seems 
at all like it. But if we look closely, a heavy bunch of fruit, 
on a thick stem, hanging near the trunk, easily marks it as 
the banana plant. Curiously enough the bunch of bananas 
seems to be upside down, and the stem continues beyond 
the fruit like a long snake and ends in a sort of blossom much 
like a large water-lily. We soon realize that this is the nat- 
ural way in which the banana grows, and that it is not on 



READY FOR FOREIGN MARKETS 



55 




56 



SHIPMENTS OF BANANAS 



the trees but in our stores at home that the bunches are 
hung upside down. When the fruit is ripe enough, the na- 
tives chop off the stem near the fruit, the long, snaky end 
is cut away, and the fruit is ready for market. In Panama 





^^M 


j 


1 


% 


1 


■^■m 




■ 




^KtSi A 


1 


ea /^^^ 


S- 


1 


m 




1 




i 


1 


^Hll 


1 


p 


m 


'/U9 


p^^H^^Sb 



Field of Pineapples on Taboga Island Near City or Panama. 



a bunch is sold to the fruit dealers for about thirty cents. 
Nearly four hundred thousand bunches have been shipped 
north from Colon in one season, and thousands more are 
used on the Isthmus for food. Of late years, however, ba- 
nanas are shipped from Bocas del Toro instead of from 
Colon. 

In Panama, too, grow delicious oranges, papayas (a fruit 



OTHER TROPICAL FRUITS 



57 



similar to melons but grown on trees), pineapples, limes, 
bread-fruit, mangoes, and scores of other tropical fruits 
with which we are less fami- 
liar. Nature has been very 
generous here with her fruits, 
— so much so, in fact, that 
the natives can live on them 
with little or no effort. But 
the cocoanuts and bananas 
are the most abundant and 
most characteristic of the 
Isthmus. 

A Panama poet has 
written an interesting little 
poem which describes the 
land in which he lived. The 
first stanza of the poem is 

at the beginning of this chapter. It would be easy to learn 
and might help us to remember some of the more important 
things that we shall notice on a visit to Panama. 




Copyright oy L / 



Papayas. 



CHAPTER VI 



NATIVES AND ANIMALS 



Where vegetation grows with such great luxuriance, we 
are not surprised to find also an abundance of animal life. 
We have, no doubt, already noticed the great black vultures 

sailing about far up 
in the sky. And 
everywhere among 
the trees we come 
upon countless num- 
bers of birds of 
all sizes and bright 
colors. The most 
noticeable are the 
gayly colored par- 
rots and their rela- 
tives the brilliant- 
crested cockatoos. 
By the swamps and 
streams are the peli- 
cans and great blue herons. But we shall find the forests 
strangely silent and shall miss the song birds that make glad 
our northern woods and fields. It seems to be almost a rule 




Panama Humming Birds. 



NO LARGE ANIMALS 



59 



with birds and flowers that the more brilhant the plumage 
or coloring, the less is there of pleasant song or perfume. 

As we pass on through the 
jungle a timid deer may here 
and there be seen. There 
are snakes, too, numerous 
and poisonous, and we must 
have a care lest we be seri- 
ously bitten. But in these 
woods there are no animals 
of large size, like the lions or 
elephants or other great game 
of Asia and Africa. Unless 
one of us were alone and 
without a gun, he need have 
no fear. 

The largest and most dan- 
gerous animal is the jaguar. It can sometimes be found 
even as far north as Texas and inhabits the woods and 
jungles of all Central and South America. 
This jaguar is the largest of the American 
wild animals of the cat family and sometimes grows to 
be ten feet long from nose to tip of tail. It is a sort of 
cousin of the leopard or panther of Asia. If we can 
imagine a cat as large in body as a Newfoundland dog but 
with short yellowish-brown hair and a long tail, and marked 
all over its body with dark rings and spots, we shall have 




'Snakes, Too, Numerous and 
Poisonous." 



The Jaguar 



6o 



WILD HOGS 



The Warrees 



some idea of the appearance of a jaguar. We shall not see 
any of these animals. They are too sly and cunning. Only 
the most careful hunter could come within gunshot of one 
of them. At times a jaguar will come out of the woods to 
attack a herd of cattle, but more often it feeds on monkeys 
and tapirs. 

An interesting little animal called the warree can at times 
be seen in the Isthmian jungle. It is a species of wild hog. 
The naturalist Godman writes of this animal: 
"The warrees go in herds of fifty to one hun- 
dred. They are said to assist one another against the 
attacks of the jaguar, but that wily animal is too intelligent 

for them. He sits 
quietly on a branch 
of a tree till the 
warrees come un- 
derneath, then 
jumping down kills 
one by breaking its 
neck, leaps up into 
the tree again, waits 
there until the herd departs, when he comes down and 
feeds on the slaughtered warree in quietness." 

The warree is black in color, except that its lips and jaw 
are pure white. It is about forty inches long, with short 
but nimble legs. Very large tusks and a coarse fur of stiff, 
strong bristles give it a fierce appearance. Close acquaint- 




"It is a Species of Wild Hog." 



HUNTING WARREES 6i 

ance with this httle wild hog is not always agreeable. Mr. 
Temple, former Chief Justice of Belize in Central America, 
says: 

"If you meet a flock of warrees in the bush and take no 
notice of them, it is probable that they will take no notice 
of you, but if your intentions are hostile and your design is 
to transfer one of them from his native wilderness to your 
kitchen, you must take care to place yourself in a safe po- 
sition before you carry your design into execution. A gen- 
tleman not long since shot a warree without having taken 
the necessary precautions. The remainder of the flock in- 
stantly pursued him, and if he had not managed to climb 
into a tree he would have been torn to pieces. But he was 
kept a prisoner in that leafy asylum for many hours, the 
surviving warrees being bent on revenging the death of their 
companion. Even when the flock went a little distance to 
feed, they left two or three to stand guard at the foot of the 
tree." 

Perhaps we may have the good luck also to see some 
Panama monkeys. In the continents of North and South 
America monkeys are not so common as in 
the Eastern Hemisphere. They are found Monkeys 

in abundance only from Panama to Brazil. 

Years ago there were great droves of monkeys, both black 
and white, in the Panama woods. Now there are not so 
many left. Away back in the year 1681 Captain Dampier, 
an English pirate like Henry Morgan, crossed Panama. 



62 



DAMPIER'S DIARY 



He had been a great traveler and had seen monkeys in many 
other parts of the world. It is interesting to read in his diary 
a description of the Panama monkeys of his time. They 

are much the same to-day. 

He said, — "The monkeys 
that are in these parts are 
the ugliest I ever saw. They 
are much bigger than a hare, 
with a black, hard skin; but 
the upper side, and all the 
body is covered with coarse, 
long, black hair. These crea- 
tures keep together twenty 
or thirty in a company, and 
ramble over the woods, leap- 
ing from tree to tree. If they 
meet with a single person they 
will threaten to devour him. 
When I have been alone I have been afraid to shoot them, 
especially the first time I met them. They were a great 
company dancing from tree to tree, over my head, chattering 
and making a terrible noise, and a great many grim faces, 
and showing antic gestures. Some broke down dry sticks 
and threw at me. At last one bigger than the rest came to 
a small limb just over my head, and leaping directly at me 
made me start back; but the monkey caught hold of a 
bough with the tip of his tail, and there continued swinging 




" Years Ago there were Great 
Droves of Monkeys." 



ANOTHER PANAMA ANIMAL 63 

to and fro, making mouths at me. At last I passed on, they 
still keeping me company, with the like menacing postures, 
till I came to our huts. 

" The tails of these monkeys are as good to them as one 
of their hands, and they will hold as fast by them. The 
females with their young are much troubled to leap after 
the males, for they have commonly two; one she carries 
under one of her arms, the other sits on her back, and 
clasps its two fore-paws about her neck. These monkeys 
are the most sullen I have ever met with, for all the art we 
could use would never tame them. It is a hard matter 
to shoot one of them so as to take it; for if it gets hold 
with its claws or tail, it will not fall so long as one breath 
of life remains." 

This sam_e Captain Dampier was much interested in 
another curious Panama animal. The Spanish discover- 
ers called it the armadillo, because it was 

The 

protected by a thick- jointed shell, like a suit Armadillo 

of armor. It is a funny little creature that 
looks like an opossum with a shell on its back. Dampier 
describes it as about the size of a "small sucking pig, — 
the body of it pretty long." 

"This creature," he said, "is enclosed in a thick shell, 
which guards all its back, and comes down on both sides^ 
and meets under the belly, leaving room for the four 
legs; the head is small, with a nose like a pig, a pretty 
long neck, and can put out its head before its body 



64 



A SNAKE KILLER 




when it walks; but on any danger he puts it in under 
the shell; and drawing in his feet, he lies stock-still like 
a land turtle. And though you toss him about he will 

not move himself. 
The shell is jointed 
in the middle of 
the back; so that 
he can turn the 
fore-part of his body 
about which way he 
pleases. The feet 
are like those of a 
land turtle, and he 
has strong claws 
wherewith he digs holes in the ground like a coney." 

"According to an old Mexican legend, the armadillo was 
sent in direct answer to the prayers of the devout people 
who long ago resided in a part of Mexico which was badly 
infested with venomous snakes. The inhabitants so be- 
seeched the Almighty for relief that suddenly all the ser- 
pents seemed to have vanished from the earth. In going 
about the region once so badly plagued the natives could 
find no more opossums, but instead an animal that seemed 
to be one, except that on its back was a shell. This was 
its armor which brought immunity from the bite of a snake, 
and thenceforth the armadillo began to make unrelenting 
warfare on all poisonous reptiles. It is still true to its 



"The Spanish Discoverers Called It the 
Armadillo." 



THE TAPIR 



65 



reputation, and wherever found is on the job of snake 
killing, as it was centuries ago in Old Mexico. 

''Native hunters usually track them to their burrows 
with dogs, which give notice if an occupant is at home. 
The hunter then using his bush-knife as a pick, and his 
hands as a shovel, commences with the utmost dispatch 
to dig out the animal, which all the while endeavors to 
escape by scratching deeper into the ground. It is a race 
between the armadillo and the man, and an even chance 
which succeeds. The tail is the first part seized by the 
hunter, and then after a short struggle, the victim suc- 
cumbs. The flesh of the armadillo is tender, white, and 
usually esteemed a 
delicacy." 

The flesh of the 
tapir also is used for 
food by 
some of 
the Indians in vari- 
ous parts of Central 
America. This ani- 
mal is common in 
the jungle of Pana- 
ma, though here the San Bias Indians seldom hunt for it. 
Like the armadillo it is very different from any animal with 
which we are familiar in the United States. In fact, it is 
seldom found even as far north as the City of Mexico. 



The Tapir 




"A Native of Panama." 



66 



AN UGLY BEAST 




Neither is it to be seen in most parts of South America. 
So that we may think of the tapir as more truly a native of 
Panama and the nearby countries than any other animal 
in the jungle. 

It is a small, fat, slow-moving animal, about two feet 
tall and four feet long. The color is blackish-brown, 
lighter on the head and passing into pale brown on the 

cheeks, the edges of 
the lips, and the tip 
of the ears. 

The tapirs are 
hunted usually dur- 
ing the rainy sea- 
sons, when they 
come down from 
the hills into the low valleys to feed on the coarse grass 
by the river banks. Dogs run them down for the hunters 
and they are then shot or killed with spears. 

Though the various animals of which we have been 
speaking can all be seen in the Panama woods by those 
who have the time to spare to look for thpm, 
the casual traveler who passes from Colon to 
Panama City may not see them at all. But it would not 
be difficult for anyone to see the alligators that are com- 
mon in nearly all the streams and rivers. 

If we had time to spare and wanted a little excitement, 
we might join an alligator hunt. These dirty beasts inhabit 



Panama Water Lizard. 



Alligators 



HUNTING ALLIGATORS 



67 




68 



TROPHIES 



the swampy streams and can often be seen as they sun them- 
selves upon the banks. They he there motionless, much 
like old rotten logs half buried in the mud. If anyone of us 
made a mistake and jumped out on one, his visit to Panama 




Length of Nearest Alligator was 18 Feet 6 Inches. 

30 Inches Long. 



Sticks in Mouths About 



might come to a sudden end then and there. Wise people 
keep away from these animals, unless heavily armed and 
accustomed to their tricks. 

Probably by this time we should be glad if it were as easy 
to escape from all the dangerous and troublesome animals 
' on the Isthmus, as it is from the alligators. 



SCENE IN COLON HARBOR 



69 




Copyright by Utidey-wood &• Ujidenxiood. 

"In the Harbor or Colon We May See Some or the San Blas Indians.' 



70 A DANGEROUS PEST 

"My touch is light and downy, 
They know not I am there 
Till ZIM! what howls and curses! 
'Tis laughable I swear!" 

So says the Panama mosquito, — at least the Panama poet 
tells us that he does. It may be laughable, — for the mos- 
quito. But when we see with what care the 
Mosquitoes houses are screened against this little pest, and 
learn that one sort of mosquito carries in its 
sting the germs of the dreaded Yellow Fever, we shall come 
to think of this tiny animal, as, in many ways, the most 
dangerous in Panama. The bites of fleas and sand flies are 
bad enough, and there are many of them; but the bite of 
some Panama mosquitoes may mean death. 

We can see now that the wild animals of the Isthmus are 
many of them as different from the wild animals of the 
United States, as are the trees and fruits different from our 
own. We shall also see that the people themselves are quite 
as different. 

We have spoken of the population of Panama as about 

350,000. The white inhabitants are a small part of this 

number. Of these there are some Americans, 

The People 

some Europeans, some Chinese, and many of 
old Spanish blood. These form the better class and live 
for the most part in the towns. Below them are the 
"natives," so called. This class is made up of the San Bias 
Indians, descended from the Indians of Balboa's time; the 



CANOEING FOR PLEASURE 



71 




Copyright by Underwood & Undcriuood. 

Natives in a Boat Made of a Single Log. 



72 



SAN BLAS INDIANS 



negroes, many of whose ancestors came to Panama as slaves 
in the old Spanish days; and a great number of dark- 
skinned people of part Spanish, part Indian, and part 
negro blood. 

In tlje harbor of Colon or during our journey across the 
Isthmus we may, perhaps, see some of the San Bias Indians. 
There seems to have been a number of large Indian tribes in 
Panama when the Spanish first conquered it. One author- 
ity puts the total number of Indians at that time as high as 
2,000,000. But the long years of Spanish cruelty and blood- 
shed were very hard on them and roused a most bitter hatred 
of the whites. 

Their homes are many miles away from Colon in the for- 
est country in the eastern part of Panama. But they are 
occasionally seen near the towns, when they bring in nuts 
and fruit to trade for the necessities of life. Some stories 
told of them show that they are still treacherous and still 
hate the white people. 

We may take as an example the fate of an expedition of 
1854, led by Lieutenant Strain of the U. S. Navy. In Jan- 
uary of that year three warships were sent to Caledonia Bay 
in the Gulf of Darien, for the purpose of exploring and sur- 
veying the country. A party of twenty-seven men, led by 
Lieutenant Strain, was landed. "The start was made from 
Caledonia Bay, on the 20th of January, with the intention of 
crossing the Isthmus to the Gulf of San Miguel on the Pa- 
cific coast. At first the Indians were friendly, or appeared 



TIMID NEGROES 



73 




Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, 

"Some Must Be Caught and Held Before the Camera." 



74 



LIEUTENANT STRAIN'S ADVENTURE 



to be so, and served as guides; but after a few days they 
deserted the surveying party in the depth of the tropical 
wilderness. The party then became hopelessly bewildered, 




Native Charcoal Burners, Huts, and Families. 

the food supply failed, and one third of the number perished 
from exposure and starvation. After ninety-five terrible 
days of suspense and suffering, Lieutenant Strain and two 
or three others made their way to the Pacific, were rescued 
by a friendly Spanish native, and taken to Panama. The 
other surviving members of the sorrowful expedition at 
last returned to Caledonia Bay in complete exhaustion. 
Lieutenant Strain died, and his reinains were buried at 



POOR WORKMEN 



75 



Colon, to be afterward exhumed and taken to the United 
States." 

As for the negroes, some live a life away off in the forests 
almost as wild as the Indians. They are not at all danger- 
ous. Indeed, they are so timid as to be hard to photograph. 
Some must be caught and held before the camera. 

The natives in the towns or in their little settlements 
nearby are better clothed and housed and are an interesting 




"Busting Buttons" — Panama Women Washing by the Chagres River. — Note 
THE Thick, Heavy Club with which the Wet Clothes are Beaten. 

and intelligent people. But life is so easy for them on the 
Isthmus, that they are poor workmen and inclined to be very 
lazy and shiftless. What queer little thatched huts they 



76 



NEGRO HOMES 




Native Boy Beating Rice Preparatory to Cooking. 



FOOD 77 

build! Surrounded by groves of cocoanut palms, they are 
picturesque enough, but scarcely such places as we should 
care to live in. The principal food of the natives consists 
of fruit and fish. Both salt-water and fresh-water fish 
abound. Yams, yucca, plantains or bananas are always at 
hand. Rice is also a regular article of diet. It is bought in 
small quantities and pounded into a sort of meal in a large 
wooden mortar. Little or no meat is eaten, and it is easy 
to see that the food is not strengthening enough to give the 
natives much energy. No wonder that they do not care to 
work! 



CHAPTER VII 

CITY OF PANAMA 

And SO we have made our way across the Isthmus, through 
the forest jungle and the native villages, until the Pacific 
and the City of Panama come into view. 

Before entering the town, let us get a general idea of its 
location and surroundings from the slopes of Ancon Hill, 
which rises directly behind it. How superb is the view here 
spread out before us ! Below is the little city, scattered over 
a rocky point of land, — and there, the broad and beautiful 
Gulf of Panama framed in green hills. Away off in the dis- 
tance the Pearl Islands can just be seen, while near at hand 
Taboga and its neighboring islands rise abruptly from the 
blue waters of the bay. And over all are bright skies and 
brilliant sunlight. We shall travel far before finding a city 
more attractively situated. 

Even from a distance the town has a foreign appearance, 

and a closer view adds to this impression. How strangely 

narrow its streets are! And see, — how the 

Foreign curious old Spanish balconies project over the 

sidewalks and protect the passer-by from the 

sunlight! At least the lower parts of the houses are very 

heavily built, with few windows and these strongly barred, 

78 



THE NEW CITY 



79 




8o 



STREETS AND HOUSES 



as if to stand a siege. No lawns separate them from the 
streets. It is but a step to the sidewalk. Doors are open 

everywhere. The 
interiors of the 
houses of the poorer 
people are in full 
view from the 
streets. We shall 
find, however, that 
the homes of the 
better class are in 
the second story of 
their houses and 
more removed from 
the noise and dirt. 

Let us pass di- 
rectly into the 
town to Independ- 
ence Plaza. Here 
stands the old 
Cathedral of Pan- 
ama, — with its twin spires, Spanish architecture, and clang- 
ing bells. In front of it is the open park or Plaza. This is 
the center about which the town is built. The 
chief hotel, the Bishop's palace, the City Hall, 
and the principal clubs, are all on this Plaza. Here, on 
Sunday evenings, rich and poor alike gather to listen tP 




' How Strangely Narrow Its Streets Are ! " 



INDEPENDENCE PLAZA 



the band concerts or to promenade beneath the lights and 
palm trees. For more than two hundred years this Plaza 
has witnessed some of the most important events in the 
history of Panama. If the City of Panama is the capital of 
the Republic, this small square is its very heart. There are 
other old churches and other parks in the city, but none 
quite so interesting 
as these. 

Not all the town, 
however, is as at- 
tractive as Independ- 
ence Plaza. Though 
it has now been 
made thoroughly 
clean and healthful, 
it was once an 
unsanitary, tropical 
city, and the old con- 
ditions are not en- 
tirely changed. Yet 
our general feeling, 

• , 1 Coj>yj'2p-/i£ by U 

as we examine the 

Calle Bolivar, One of the Better Streets of 
town, will not be Panama City. 

unpleasant. 

From the Cathedral Plaza it is only a short walk to the 
harbor. A stroll out on the old sea-wall is full of novelty 
and interest. This is the very same wall which the Spaniards 




82 



THE OLD CATHEDRAL 



.T/-^"' TiST'- 




Panama Cathedral and Corner of Independence Plaza. 

Two towers the old Cathedral lifts 
Above the sea-walled town. 



In either turret, staves in hand, 
All day the mongrel ringers stand 
And sound, far over bay and land, 
The Bells of Panama. 



built to protect the town in the old pirate days. They 
must surely have expected Henry Morgan to return with 
his blood-thirsty pirates, so thick and high did they build 
it. In fact, so much money was spent upon it that the 
angry Spanish king is said to have asked if it were not 
built entirely of silver. Only portions of the old walls now 
remain. 



TIDES IN THE PACIFIC 



83 



At Colon the tide rises and falls less than two feet, — that 

is, the surface of the ocean always remains at about the 

same 



Beach 
Market 




level . 

At Pan- 
ama, on the other 
hand, the tide rises 
and falls nearly 
twenty feet. Dur- 
ing one part of the 
day we may see the 
city wall at high 
tide and with num- 
bers of small fruit 
and fishing boats 
anchored near it. 
The same spot at 
low tide would 
scarcely be recog- 
nized. The vessels 
are lying on dry 
bottom and their 
cargoes are being 
unloaded. From up 
and down the coast 
all manner of fruits are brought in these boats, and when 
the tide is out, the "beach market" makes an odd sisrht. 



Old Cathedral Bells, Panama City. 



84 ECUADOR HAT3 

At home we most often hear the name of Panama con- 
nected with the soft, beautifully-woven hats, so common in 
summer weather. Some of us may have been 
^anama looking curiously into the native huts or into 

the city houses, in the hope of seeing the people 
at work on these hats. They can be seen in most of the 
curious little stores, but where are they made, we ask. Not 
at all in Panama, is the reply, but away off on the west coast 




The City Wall at High Tide. 



of South America, in Ecuador. The Panama merchants 
buy them from that distant country, and then they, in turn, 
sell them to our hatters in the United States. They might 



LIFE IN PANAMA CITY 



85 



more truly be called Ecuador hats. The name "Panama 
hat," then, refers not so much to the place where they are 
made as to the particular kind of material and weave of 




The Same Spot at Low Tide. 



the hats. Indeed, many people suspect that the cheaper 
kinds of Panama hats are made even in Paris or New 
York. 

We cannot stay long in the city without realizing that 
the customs of the people are in many ways as foreign to 
our own as the city is foreign in appearance. Sensible peo- 
ple will not, perhaps, think any the less of the Panamanians 
for that. The clanging of many church-bells will not al- 



86 



TWO BUSY PLACES 




Office of the Panama Lottery. 



AMADOR 87 

ways mean much church-going. And some of us may be 
shocked to find cock-fighting and an occasional bull-fight on 
Sunday. 

We have already learned that in December, 1903, Panama 
became an independent nation, free from Colombia, of 
which country she had so long been a part. Now the little 
Republic, made up of seven provinces, has a constitution 
and form of government similar in most respects to our 
own. It has its own stamps, coins, flag, government build- 
ings, etc., and has the peculiar advantage of the special pro- 
tection of the United States. 

Among the leaders who brought about the revolution of 
1903 and freed Panama from Colombia none was more 
prominent than Dr. Manuel Amador Guerrero. He was a 
native of Cartagena, Colombia, but had resided 

'^ ' ' Dr. Amador 

for more than fifty years on the Isthmus and 
had become one of Panama's most distinguished citizens. 
When the National Assembly met in 1904, he was chosen, 
by unanimous vote, the first president of the new Republic. 
His term expired on September 30, 1908. On May 2; 
1909, he died at his home in Panama City at the age of 
seventy-seven years. Our government has honored his 
memory by naming the fortifications at the Pacific end of 
the Canal Fort Amador. 

During the first four years of the young Republic's life 
there was much uncertainty and some disorder. Party 
feeling was very strong and rival politicians of the Con- 



88 GOOD GOVERNMENT ESTABLISHED 

servative and Liberal parties began to show the same revo- 
lutionary spirit that has characterized many South and 
Central American states. To the United States it was 
highly important that peace, order, and justice should pre- 
vail on the Isthmus. Canal building could not well go on 
in a country that was disturbed by strife and bloodshed. 
Dr. Amador's high character and good judgment, coupled 




President Obaldia and Wife in Front of Presidential Palace. 

with strong pressure from the United States, guided Panama 
safely through these early years and estabhshed traditions 
of good and stable government. 

The second president of Panama was Jose Domingo de 
Obaldia. He had been Second Vice-President under Dr. 



OBALDIA 89 

Amador until igo6 and First Vice-President from that time 
until Amador's death. He was inaugurated President on 
October i, 1908. "He was born in David, province of 
Chiriqui, on January 30, 1845. His father was at one 
time President of Colombia, and his mother was of dis- 
tinguished Panamanian family. On completing his educa- 
tion at the Colombian college at Bogota, he entered the 
employ of the Panama Railroad Company, and after a 
short service, went to the United States, where he took a 
two years' course in a school in New Haven, and learned to 
speak English. Returning to Panama, he went into the cat- 
tle business in Chiriqui, in which he made a small fortune." 
"In 1900 he was sent to Bogota to represent Panama in 
the Colombian Congress, and in 1903 was elected Senator. 
Later in the same year he was appointed Governor of 
Panama, which office he held at the time of the 

' Obaldia 

revolution in which Panama separated from 
Colombia, in November, 1903. Under the new govern- 
ment he was appointed Minister to Washington, and later, 
in 1908, was made Liberal candidate for the presidency and 
elected in July of that year." 

President Obaldia did not live to complete his term. His 
death occurred on March i, 1910. Vice-President Dr. 
Carlos A. Mendoza took the oath of ofhce on that day. 

Obaldia was President during two of the busiest years of 
canal construction. His administration was marked by the 
same orderly government established by Dr. Amador. 



PART IV 
KEY TO THE PACIFIC 



CHAPTER VHI 

ROADWAYS ACROSS CENTRAL AMERICA 

If we made a visit to Panama merely to see a tropical 
country in many ways so very different from our own, and 
to look upon the ruins of the glorious old days of Spanish 
rule, we should certainly be well rewarded. But, as every- 
one knows, there is something else to be seen at Panama. 
It has been said that the eyes of the whole world are now 
turned with tremendous interest to this little country. Dur- 
ing the remainder of our stay in Panama we shall try to learn 
why this is so. 

We begin with the story of a most remarkable little rail- 
road. While at Panama we shall be obliged to 
travel considerably on this road, and a knowl- Raiir^^d 

edge of its history will add much to our interest. 

There was a time, as late as the year 1889, when tickets 
for a forty-eight mile railroad journey at Panama cost $25 
in gold, — or more than fifty cents per mile. If we paid the 
same rate at home, it would cost more than $200 to go 
from New York City to Buffalo or from Chicago to Minne- 
apolis. Few persons could afford to take many such trips. 
The rates at Panama are still very high. 

We shall notice that all the telegraph poles along the road 

93 



94 



FIVE IMPORTANT ROUTES 




Map V. — Routes Across Central America. 



ENEMIES OF THE RAILROAD 



95 



are of iron instead of wood, and if we get out, when the train 
stops, and look carefully at the cross-ties beneath the rails, 
we shall find that they are all of lignum vitae, almost the 
hardest wood in the world. It is next to impossible to drive 
a spike into these cross-ties. Holes for them must be bored 




Pedro Miguel. — Panama Railroad. 



out. And this is, of course, a long and expensive task. It 
is odd to think that all this trouble was made necessary by 
harmless-looking ants. We have heard of beavers cutting 
down young trees with their sharp teeth, in order to eat the 
tender twigs and leaves or to use the branches in building 
their mud houses. But that ants will eat dry, hard telegraph 



96 SPANISH ROADS 

poles and railroad cross- ties seems like a fairy story. We may 
smile at the idea, but it is true nevertheless. In the forests 
of Panama there are great colonies of wood-eating ants that 
will eat into and destroy any but the very hardest wood. Iron 
and lignum vitse, however, have proved too much for them. 

The story of the building of the Panama railroad takes us 
back again, for a moment, to the early Spanish times. When 
all that long stretch of land between North and South Amer- 
ica which we call Central America (Map V) was discovered 
and conquered by Spain, and the rich west coast of America 
fell into her hands, the Spaniards naturally began to look 
for the best places for roadways across from the Atlantic to 
the Pacific. 

We remember that Balboa, in 15 14, cut a rude road across 
the Isthmus through the jungle and carried his ships over 
it. It is marked as No. 2, Map V. This was 
Ro^id*'^ the first roadway built by white men between 

the two oceans. It was also, by chance, the 
shortest, — about thirty miles. But no towns grew up at 
either end and it soon disappeared. 

When Governor Pedrarias built the City of Panama and 
the towns of Nombre de Dios and Porto Bello, he began 
a good, paved road between them (No. 3, Map 
Road™* V). This road was fifty miles long and was 

wide enough to allow two carts to be driven 
abreast along it. No expense was spared to make it a good 
way for travel and commerce. 



A BETTER ROAD NEEDED 97 

In 1525 Cortes, the Spanish ruler of Mexico, found that 
from the Gulf of Mexico across to Tehuantepec Bay (Ta- 
wan-ta-pek') was but one hundred and twenty 
miles and, that the passes through the moun- Road^'^*^^^*' 
tains were but nine hundred feet above the sea. 
So he built a highway at this point (No. 5, Map V), known 
as the Tehuantepec Road. From that day to this an ex- 
tensive trade has been carried over that route. 

During all the long years that Spain held it, and for many 
years after, the Tehuantepec and the Panama roads were 
the only important routes across Central America. There 
are men still living who crossed by these roads, when no 
others existed. 

There came a time, however, when a better road was 
greatly needed. We have all heard of the war between the 
United States and Mexico in 1846 and 1847, 
which gave to the United States New Mexico, RaUroar""^ 
Arizona, and California, and much other land 
besides. At that time there were less than nine thousand 
miles of railroad in all the United States, and it was im- 
possible to go from New York even as far west as Chicago 
by rail. Many hundreds of miles of unexplored prairies 
and Rocky Mountains lay between Chicago and California. 
The trails for horses and wagons were very dangerous, the 
journey required several months, and hostile Indians were 
everywhere. For government service, for soldiers, and for 
the mails an easier route was necessary. 



98 



GOLD SEEKERS 



We have all heard, too, of the wonderful discovery of 
gold in California in 1848, and of the crowds of excited 
men who rushed to the new gold fields. Long caravans 
of horses and wagons conveyed thousands west from St. 
I.ouis. But there were thousands more of the Forty-niners, 




Old Fort and Portion of City Wall, Panama. 



as they were called, who chose to go by ship to the mouth 
of the Chagres river, then to cross the Isthmus to the City 
of Panama, and thence by ship again up the Pacific coast 
to San Francisco. There were quite as many dangers by 
this route as by the long trails across the western prairies. 
There were many shipwrecks on the rough Caribbean sea, 



PANAMA RAILROAD COMPANY 99 

and hundreds fell sick and died in the hot climate of the 
Isthmus. In the single year of 1852 five hundred gold- 
seekers died of cholera at Panama. 

At that time there was no regular line of steamers from 
Panama City to San Francisco. When a ship once reached 
California, the crew was likely to be seized with 
the gold fever and to run off to the mines, leav- „i„!.^*"^*^" 

o 7 niners 

ing the captain with no one to help him take 
his ship back to Panama. Had we searched carefully, as 
we took a promenade on the old sea-wall of the City of 
Panama, we might have found many names and initials of 
the Forty-niners cut in the moss-covered stones. These 
letters tell a pathetic story of the anxious men who once, 
from these very walls, looked eagerly out to sea in search 
of a returning ship. The long days of waiting, the empty 
purses, the dreaded fever made Panama the grave of hun- 
dreds, who were never to reach the gold mines. A large 
trade sprang up on the Isthmus, and great quantities of 
goods were shipped over this route to California. 

So it came about that a company of men in New York 
city determined to build a railroad from Colon to the 
City of Panama. William Henry Aspinwall, John L. 
Stevens, and Henry Chauncey were the leaders in this 
enterprise. The right to build it was secured from the 
government of Colombia, the route was surveyed not far 
from the old Spanish roadway, and work was begun in 
1849. 



MANY OBSTACLES 



Since the road was to be but forty-eight miles long and 

there were no mountains to be crossed, it would not seem, 

at first thought, like a great task; but in the 

American o ' o 

Energy and end it provcd to be one of the most disastrous 
ravery attempts at road building in which American 

energy and bravery have ever been engaged. 

There were many obstacles at the outset. Panama was 
a long distance from railroad supplies. Materials were 




Haut Obispo Station. 



hard to get. Then there were the jungles to be con- 
quered. It will be almost impossible for us to realize the 
difficulties that they present to an engineering party. We 



ON MANZANILLO ISLAND loi 

are told that a party of engineers once passed twice within 
twenty feet of a high hill without knowing it, so dense was 
the tropical growth. 

To begin the engineering work, Colonel G. M. Totten, 
James L. Baldwin, and a few others, with a small number 
of native laborers, landed on Manzanillo Island, 
where now is the town of Colon. "There was Totten 

not the least sign of human life, civilized or 
savage, on the island; nor was there a space of dry land 
upon which to set foot, except the narrow ridge of sand 
that had been washed up by the surf along the reef. In 
front, the sea; behind, the malarial swamp. But they set 
to work to clear away a space for the purpose of erecting 
a building to shelter themselves, their followers, and their 
supplies from the sun and rain. 

"They had a schooner of two hundred tons, upon which 
they had arrived, and on which they lived for the first 
few months. Even after the first house was completed 
it was found that it was impossible to occupy it, on ac- 
count of the swarms of mosquitoes, sand flies, and other 
noxious insects that invaded it; while on board the ves- 
sel the men were tormented with m3Tiads of cockroaches, 
which rendered life a burden. Sickness was seldom 
absent from the camp, while death was a too frequent 
visitor. No one escaped the calentura, as the jungle fever 
is called. In a little time the white members of the 
party were the pale hue of ghosts; and even the dusky 



I02 BATTLE WITH THE JUNGLE 

natives grew many shades lighter than their natural 
bronze. 

"Under these untoward circumstances, at the beginning 
of the long rainy season, of which no one of the company, 
except the natives, had any practical knowledge, was 




Scene on Panama Railroad. — Bolivar Street, Colon. 



commenced the battle with tropical nature that was to end 
in triumph five weary years later." 

James Baldwin was selected to survey the line of the 
road. "He organized a small party, and made the bold 
plunge. For a long distance they were obliged to wade in 
water waist deep, and to hew their way through the dense 



A DARING ENGINEER 103 

jungle. It is said that Baldwin carried his noonday luncheon 

in his hat, during the progress of that part of the survey, ' 

and ate it standing amid envious alligators 

and water snakes. Be that as it may, it is Baldwin 

doubtful if a more daring feat of engineering 

has been performed. Think of it! day after scorching 

day, shut in by impenetrable growth of jungle, each weary 

foot of which must be cut down before any advance could 

be made, breathing air laden with poison, and tormented 

by millions of insects! The wonder is that any man could 

have had such courage and endurance." 

Not far from Colon was the great Black Swamp. Across 
this it was necessary to build the line. Some of us may 
know what that means. For miles no hard 

Obstacles 

bottom could be found beneath the soft mud. 
Tons on tons of rock were dumped upon it and in a few 
hours sank out of sight. This swamp was obstacle enough 
to force less determined men to quit the work. 

The next obstacle was the Chagres river. The route of 
the line crossed it at several points and there the terrific 
floods made railroad building next to impossible. The 
water often rose ten feet or more above the tracks and 
swept away the results of months of labor. 

Another obstacle was the difficulty of securing good labor- 
ers. The Panama native has a way of working one day 
and then of loafing for the next w^eek. When he works, he 
does not accomplish much. So laborers had to be imported 



I04 



CHINESE LABORERS 



from abroad. The Company, as an experiment, brought 
over a shipload of eight hundred Chinamen. " They immedi- 
ately began to fall sick. In less than two months after 
their arrival there was hardly one of the original number 
fit to wield a pick or shovel. They gave themselves up to 




Floods on Panama Railroad — 1906. 



despair and sought death by whatever means came nearest 
to hand. Some sat on the shore and awaited the rising tide, 
nor did they stir until the sea swallowed them. Some 
hanged or strangled themselves by their cues. The rem- 
nant, fewer than two hundred, sick and useless, were shipped 
to Jamaica." 



BATTLE WITH DISEASE 105 

Irish laborers were tried with no better results. Finally 
a gang of several thousand negroes from Jamaica, and a 
few whites from various sources finished the work. 

We may already suspect the greatest enemy with which 
the railroad had to fight. More serious than all other ob- 
stacles to any great work in Panama is the 

Disease 

tropical climate with its tropical diseases. Not 
only does the steaming hot weather suck the strength out of 
men who are accustomed to cooler lands, but it leaves them 
too weak to throw off the diseases that lurk in the filth of 
the cities and the deadly air of the swamps. Consumption, 
typhoid, malaria, plague, and yellow fever, cut down the 
railroad's workmen until the wonder is that the road was 
ever completed. 

"Beyond the Chagres river 

Are the paths that lead to death — 
To the fever's deadly breezes, 
To malaria's poisonous breath!" 

It has been said that one life was sacrificed for every 
cross-tie on the railroad, track. This is, no doubt, untrue. 
The total loss of life was about 2,500. It was a fight of 
American daring against terrible odds. But such engi- 
neers as Colonel George Totten and James Baldwin were 
superior to all the evil powers of the jungle, and the road 
was built. 

Eight million dollars, — ^five years of exhausting labor, — 



io6 



THE RAILROAD COMPLETED 



over two thousand lives, — that was the price paid for forty- 
eight miles of railroad away off in Panama. 

On the 27th of January, 1855, a strange sight was seen in 
the City of Panama, — the first locomotive that ever crossed 




" Here at Last Was a Railroad Across the Isthmus." 



the American continent from ocean to ocean, — and this, 
too, fourteen years before it was possible to cross the United 
States by rail from the Atlantic to the Pacific. 

First Trans- -' 

continental Here at last was a railroad across the Isth- 

mus. Shiploads of goods headed for the 
Pacific need no longer be sent on the long journey around 
South America. Commerce came to Panama at once. Even 



SUCCESS 107 

before it was completed, the road had taken in more than 
two milhon dollars. It soon made fortunes for its builders, 
and has paid handsomely ever since. In the first forty-seven 
years this little railroad earned nearly $38,000,000 of clear 
profit for its owners. 

Surely a railroad can have a story as romantic as the 
bloody career of a gang of pirates, even though led by Henry 
Morgan. 



CHAPTER IX 

WATERWAYS ACROSS CENTRAL AMERICA 

In the first part of our story of Panama we learned that 
the greatest disappointment of Cohimbus's hfe was the fact 
that he could find no waterway through Central America to 
Asia. It will not be worth our while to study very carefully 
all the efforts made since his time by Spain, Scotland, Eng- 
land, and France to find or to build such a waterway. We 
are naturally more interested in what the United States has 
done at Panama. But we shall be more proud of our own 
country, if we see first what others have done and why they 
failed. 

That Columbus failed to find a waterway did not entirely 
discourage the Spaniards. The more they learned of Cen- 
tral America, the more desirous were they to 

Fan^t' fi^^ o^ t*^ ^^^^^ ^ ^^y ^^^ ^^^P^ through it. 

Columbus had been dead only fourteen years, 
when the Spanish king, Charles the Fifth, gave orders to all 
his governors in America to make a most careful survey for 
this purpose. His orders were obeyed and many explorers 
were sent out. Of course, no waterway was found. There 
wasn't any. And we need to follow the work of but one 
explorer. This was Gonzales. 

io8 



GONZALES 109 

lie crossed the Isthmus at Panama in 1521 and sailed up 
the west coast to Nicaragua. Here a landing was made 
with one hundred men. Gonzales had gone 
inland a few miles when, to his surprise, he Nicaragua 

came to the shore of a great fresh-water lake. 
This was Lake Nicaragua. It is marked as No. 4 on Map 
V, p. 94 and it is very desirable that we should see exactly 
where it lies. The lake is one hundred and seventeen 
miles long, or about half as long as our Lake Erie, and 
covers three thousand square miles. Gonzales sailed up 
the lake to its outlet, the San Juan river, and then down 
this stream to the Atlantic. Here, surely, was an easy way 
from the Atlantic to the Pacific, — only one hundred and 
seventy miles and largely by water. It seemed as if a canal 
might be built at Nicaragua. 

Spanish surveyors also declared, at this time, that a canal 
could be built across Panama. So, for a time, the Spaniards 
had high hopes of building a canal. 

It was not long after this, however, that Spain came to feel 
that if easy ways across Central America could be found or 
built, other nations might steal away from her the rich pos- 
sessions in the New World. So the Spanish king forbade 
any further surveys. And for two hundred and fifty years 
Spain did all in her power to prevent other nations from 
becoming interested in a canal at Nicaragua or at Panama. 

But no one feared the anger of Spain, as we know from 
the stories of English pirates. Only a few years after Henry 



no WILLIAM PATERSON 

Morgan destroyed Panama, a famous Scotchman named 
William Paterson planned to get possession of Panama by 
planting a large Scotch colony on the Gulf 
Failure °^ Darien (Map V). He thought, too, that 

if the colony was a success, Scotland might dig 
a canal across the Isthmus at that point (No. 2, Map V). 

What a pitiful failure it was! In 1698 twelve hundred 
Scotchmen set out in five ships and planted a colony at 
Darien. Others followed and everything looked promis- 
ing. But they had not counted on the climate. Fever 
came, as it had done so many times before. Soon more 
than two thousand were dead and vast sums of money had 
been spent. Suddenly a hostile Spanish fleet appeared. 
The few survivors ran away in defeat to Scotland. There 
was to be no Scotch canal. 
For more than one hundred years the failure of Pater- 
son's plan discouraged any more such efforts. 
FaHiire ^^^ interest was still alive in the idea of a 

canal and many people yet hoped to see it built. 
Some of us have seen, or may sometime see, a certain 
splendid monument in one of the squares in the city of 
London. Four massive lions guard a beautiful column 
which rises high in air. On its top stands the statue of the 
greatest admiral that ever walked the deck of an English 
battleship. All England delights to honor the memory of 
her great sea-captain, who died in his country's service. 
Few persons know, perhaps, that twenty-five years before 



NELSON MEMORIAL 



III 




Copyright by U7Lder-iUood & Lhidcncood. 

*'FouR Massive Lions Guard a Beautiful Column." 



112 A NARROW ESCAPE 

his wonderful battle with the French fleet at Trafalgar, 
he nearly lost his life in Nicaragua. He was only young 
Captain Nelson then, and had been sent with some English 
ships and men to drive the Spanish out of Nicaragua and 
seize the lake. England had determined to get control of 
what was then thought to be the best route for a canal. 

Nelson succeeded in whipping the Spanish ships that 
were sent against him. But the tropical fever again fought 
in behalf of Spain, and that he could not whip. The crew 
of his ship, the Tlinchinbrook, was suddenly taken sick, 
and in a few days only ten were left alive out of two hundred. 
The captain's own health, also, was injured for the re- 
mainder of his life. 

England did not despair. For many years she continued 
to make surveys at Nicaragua. Until very recently she still 
had plans for a canal. 



CHAPTER X 

THE FRENCH AT PANAMA 

On a certain day in 1882, up among the hills eleven miles 
back of the city of Panama, an unusual sight could have 
been seen. All about, the jungle had been cut away, the 
land cleared, and tracks, cars, engines, and machinery for 
digging had been set up. Some of them were actually in 
operation. Engines were puffing, men were shouting, gangs 
of workmen were hurrying here and there. Smoke, too, 
could be seen at points down the valley, and there were 
signs of activity everywhere. 

Amid all this commotion a company of a few hundred 
persons was gathered. No such company had ever met 
before on the Isthmus. There was the Bishop from the 
Cathedral of Panama, and with him a number of the lead- 
ing citizens of that town. There were some Americans 
also, and Europeans of different nationalities, especially 
Frenchmen. These all had the appearance of spectators 
much interested in something unusual that was about to 
happen. 

The center of the group was a little white-haired man, 
laughing and joking, and full of remarkable energy and 
good humor. Except for his white hair he appeared to be 

"3 



114 



THE CANAL BUILDER 



De Lesseps 



not over fifty years old. Certainly no one would have 
guessed that he had passed his seventy-sixth birthday. We 
are told that he would often "ride a fiery 
horse all day over rough country, — then dance 
all night like a boy, and the next day be as 'fresh as a 
daisy.'" He seemed now to be the chief in command of 

all the work. 

This man was none other 
than Count Ferdinand de 
Lesseps, and the work actu- 
ally going on was the dig- 
ging of a French canal 
across Panama. 

The company was as- 
sembled to witness the 
formal opening of the great 
work. The Bishop was to 
give it his blessing, and 
a tremendous charge of 
dynamite was to be ex- 
ploded, to show how easy 
was to be the task of cut- 
ting through the rock. An eye-witness has described the 
scene for us. ''The blessing had been pronounced, the 
champagne, duly iced, was waiting to cool the swelter of that 
tropic sun, as soon as the explosion "went off." There the 
crowd stood, breathless, ears stopped, eyes blinking, half 




Count Ferdinand de Lesseps. 



ISTHMUS OF SUEZ 



"5 



30° 20° 10* 0° 10° 20° 30° ^0° 50° 60° 70° W 




30" 20" 10° 0° 10° zb° 30° 40° 50° 60" 70° 80° 

Map VI. — De Lesseps and the Isthmus of Suez. 



ii6 AN UNLUCKY EXPLOSION 

in terror lest this artificial earthquake might involve gen- 
eral destruction. But there was no explosion! It wouldn't 
go ! Then a humorous sense of relief stole upon the crowd. 
With one accord everybody exclaimed "Good gracious!" 
and hurried away, lest after all the dynamite should see 
fit to explode." 

So, after much merriment and feasting, the company 
broke up and departed. As we look back upon that day's 
doings, which marked the beginning of the French enter- 
prise, there seems something unlucky about that charge 
of dynamite that refused to explode. 

But who was Ferdinand de Lesseps? And how did the 
French come to be building a canal at Panama? De Les- 
seps was a Frenchman who had lived for many 
and the^*^^ years in Egypt. There he was but a few miles 

Isthmus of from that other ereat isthmus of the world, — 
Suez ^ ' 

at Suez, — where a strip of low land, less than 

one hundred miles wide, connects the two continents of Asia 

and Africa. As Panama blocked the most important route 

of commerce in the New World, so did the Isthmus of Suez 

in the Old World. 

For ages there had been a demand for a canal between 

the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, and many wise men had 

studied the problem. To be of any value the canal must be 

what is called a "ship canal," that is, large enough for ocean 

vessels. But a ship canal one hundred miles long! No such 

had ever been built. The difiieulties seemed too great. 



A CANAL AT SUEZ 



117 



Though De Lesseps was not an engineer of much expe- 
rience, he was very ambitious and anxious to connect his 
name with some great undertaking. He could see that the 
task of building a canal at Suez was really simple. It 




Copyright by U^iderwood &• Underwood. 

Ship Passing Through the Suez Canal. 



would require much money and patience, but the digging 
would be mostly through sand. There was little rock, and 
there were almost no hills. De Lesseps determined that 
he would be the man to build that ship canal. It was a 
daring scheme, indeed, but he went to work at once. 

In 1858 a company was formed. Men had confidence in 



ii8 ONE ISTHMUS CONQUERED 

De Lesseps and money was secured. In 1859 work was 
begun and progressed steadily and successfully for the next 
ten years. Before the world fully realized it, Africa was no 
longer connected w^ith Asia by land. The canal was com- 
pleted. The waters of the Mediterranean could flow into 
the Red Sea and a new route was secured from Europe to 
Asia. 

The Suez Canal is ninety-nine miles long, thirty-one feet 

deep, one hundred and eighty feet wide at the bottom, and 

four hundred and twenty feet at the water's 

Suez Canal 

surface. Great electric lights were placed along 
the banks and ships can pass through it by night as well as 
by day. The time of transit is from fourteen to eighteen 
hours. 

The cost was $100,000,000 or about $1,000,000 for each 
mile. But those who had dared to put their money into this 
rash enterprise were richly rewarded, for enormous profits 
were made. Nearly four thousand ships now pass through 
the canal each year, and the Company receives an income 
from tolls of about $25,000,000. 

One of the two great isthmuses of the world was conquered. 
De Lesseps was now at the height of his fame. All Europe 
rang with his praises. No task seemed too difficult for this 
successful man. 

It is not strange, then, that he looked longingly across the 
Atlantic toward that other great isthmus at Panama. Nor 
are we surprised to find him laying plans in 1877 to do 



FRENCH PANAMA CANAL COMPANY 119 

in the New World what he had done in the Old. It need 

be only a forty mile canal at Panama. To be sure, others 

had tried and failed, but was he not the very 

man to win? When he declared that "the ^d Panama 

Panama Canal will be more easily begun, 

finished, and maintained than the Suez Canal," rich and 

poor alike were eager to furnish money. 

So in 1879 the French Panama Canal Company was 
formed. The Atlantic and Pacific were to be directly con- 
nected by a canal twenty-eight feet deep. It was to be 
built at a cost of $214,000,000, and to be finished in eight 
years. A great force of workmen was secured, machinery 
purchased, and everything made ready. The Bishop blessed 
the work, as we have seen, and the canal was begun. 

A whole book might be filled with the story of the French 
Canal. For us three words will explain what 

happened. French work 

J^J^ at Panama 

Disease. — It seems as if De Lesseps and his 
associates should have known enough about Panama to have 
reckoned with the old enemy, — ^Yellow Fever. They did 
build expensive hospitals, — one at Panama City cost nearly 
$6,000,000, — another at Colon, $1,400,000; but they were 
badly managed and the sick were poorly cared for. We 
have, no doubt, already seen the yellow fever ward of the 
hospital at Panama City. In this one ward twelve hundred 
patients died. Worse still, while they tried to cure the sick, 
the French did little to prevent sickness. The towns were 



I20 DISEASE AND WASTE 

left as filthy as ever, the water supply remained poor, and the 
laborers continued to fall ill. Out of a total of 86,800 work- 
men, 52,000 were treated for sickness; the deaths during 
the twenty- three years of French work were at least 15,000. 




Fever Ward — French Hospital, Panama City. 

Waste. — The French had failed to make a careful study 
of the difficulties before they began the work. The Panama 
Canal was far harder to build than the Suez Canal. Money 
was poured out like water. But poor plans and poor engi- 
neers made the canal grow very slowly. Waste and extrav- 
agance were seen on all sides. Yet glowing stories of great 
progress were sent home to France. Newspapers were 



DISHONESTY 



bribed to make false reports. For several years the French 
people were deceived. The canal was soon to be completed, 
they were told, and they continued to furnish huge sums of 
money for the work. 

Theft. — Be Les- 
seps was not, per- 
haps, an intention- 
ally dishonest man. 
But he was an old 
man and unfit to 
guide so tremen- 
dous a work. Many 
men who worked 
with him were dis- 
honest and by them 
he was deceived. 
Not only in France 
but also in Panama 
large sums of money 
went into the pock- 
ets of those in power. 

It is said that fully one third of all the money raised was 
practically stolen from the treasury. This spirit of corrup- 
tion made its way down from the higher officials through all 
classes even to the lowest. Every form of vice flourished 
on the Isthmus. 

Disease, waste, and theft went on for seven years. Of 




Copyright by Wm. H. Rau. 

French Machine Working on a Bank in Panama 
Canal. 



122 



500,000,000 



course, much good digging was done, but at the end of that 
time not over two fifths of the whole work was completed. 
Nearly four hundred million dollars had been raised. A 




De Lesseps Palace. 



large part of it was secured from French farmers and day- 
laborers, who believed in the great De Lesseps and turned 
over to him their little savings. About one third of this 
enormous sum was wasted, one third stolen, and one third 
actually spent on the canal. What a dreadful story of mis- 
management ! Had all the $300,000,000 been properly spent, 
the canal might have been finished. 
At last the whole world came to know what had hap- 



A NATIONAL SCANDAL 



123 



pened. It was clear that De Lesseps and the French 
Panama Canal Company had failed. Rage and excite- 
ment spread over France. Thousands of per- 
sons had sunk all their money in the great 
scheme, and now found themselves ruined. 
The end had come, no canal was built, the money was gone. 
Then a long trial was held to find out who was to blame. 
Many leading men in France were accused of sharing in the 



French 
Failure 




Portion of Canal Completed by the French. 



robbery. Several committed suicide rather than face the 
angry French people. During the trial a number of mem- 
bers of the Company were sentenced to pay heavy fines or 



124 



AMONG THE RUINS 




DEATH OF DE LESSEPS 



125 



to spend years in prison. The aged De Lesseps, now broken 
in health and reputation, was unable to stand the strain. 
When he was sentenced to five years' imprisonment, he fell 
into an unconscious state, his mind gave way, and within a 
few months he died in a mad-house. 

In our visit to Panama we shall go out to see the wreck 
of the French work. Had we stayed long at Colon, when we 




French Dredges Sunk in Rio Grande. 



first landed, we might have seen the expensive dwelling built 
for De Lesseps and his associates. It is known as the De 
Lesseps Palace, and shows how French money was need- 
lessly wasted. 



126 



RUINED MACHINERY 



All along the route between Colon and Panama City were 
bits of the canal partially completed. For years, in the 
great ditches, the steam excavators stood silent, just as they 
were left when the French work stopped. In the rivers 




" The Jungle Has Crept in Upon Them 



the dredges rotted at their wharves or sank to the bottom. 
Here, for instance, in the Rio Grande are two dredges with 
their tops just sticking out of the water. Each cost many 
thousands of dollars. They were soon worthless. Ten 
thousand cars, six thousand wagons, two hundred miles of 
track, with hundreds of locomotives, derricks, excavators, 
and dredges were left idle. / 



STATUE OF DE LESSEPS 



127 



How sad a sight the long hnes of locomotives present. 
Black and rusty, they are fast going to ruin within sight 
of the very spot on which De Lesseps and his friends so 
gaily opened work on the canal. The jungle has crept in 
upon them. Nature 
is trying to hide 
the pitiful signs of 
French failure. 

The world has 
long ago decided 
that De Lesseps 
himself was only 
partially responsible 
for the wreck at 
Panama He at- 
tempted more than 
he was able to do. 
We can well afford 
to forget his failure 
there and to re- 
member him only 
as the man who planned and completed the canal at Suez, 
— the longest ship canal in the world. x\t the mouth of 
that canal his statue stands looking out over the waters of 
the Mediterranean. His right hand is outstretched, as if 
inviting the ships of the world to enter his great waterway. 




CopS) 



De Lesseps Statue — Suez Canal. 



CHAPTER XI 

THE UNITED STATES AND PANAMA 

The fine American battleship whose picture appears 

opposite holds a splendid record in our navy. When war 

was about to break out between the United 

The Oregon , ^ . . r^ o i • i 

States and Spain m 1898, this vessel was m 
the harbor of San Francisco, on the Pacific. As Spain's 
fleet was expected to attack our eastern coast, and the 
Oregon was one of the most powerful ships in the navy, 
she was needed in the Atlantic. Orders were sent to Cap- 
tain Clark on March 19, to leave San Francisco at once 
for the long trip around the southern point of South America 
and north to join the Atlantic fleet in the West Indies. 
None of our ships had ever made so long a trip or one so 
full of perils. If she came through it safely, there was no 
certainty that she would still be in fighting trim. Thirteen 
thousand and four hundred miles and all at record speed! 
We all remember the pleasure and enthusiasm that spread 
over the country when the gTeat ship joined the Atlantic 
fleet without the slightest damage to her machinery and 
with her guns and men ready to give battle to the Spaniards. 
The trip had required more than two full months. Had 

there been a Panama canal, the journey would have been 

128 



AN OBJECT LESSON 129 

but four thousand six hundred miles. It could have been 
done in fifteen days and no haste would have been neces- 
sary. Americans were more than ever roused to the value of 
a canal. This remarkable voyage had been an object lesson. 




Copyright by lV7n. H. Raji. 



Battleship " Oregon." 



But it was not alone the voyage of the Oregon that inter- 
ested our people in a canal across Central America. If 
there were a canal, no nation of the world 

American 

probably would use it more than we, both in interest in 
times of war and in times of peace. For more 
than seventy-five years the United States has been interested 
in the canal. We read that away back in 1825 Henry Clay 



I30 "THE CANAL SHALL BE BUILT" 

declared it to be his firm belief that the United States should 
build it. From that time to this hundreds of other public 
men have expressed the same feeling. Both President 
Jackson and President Grant urged Congress to consider 
the matter. Many thorough surveys of the different routes 
have been made from time to time by American engineers. 

But until recent years the rich men of America, and the 
American government itself, were busy developing our own 
great lands. Mines, oil wells, factories, railroads, battle- 
ships, and scores of other necessary things, cost immense 
sums of money. There was little time or money left for 
a doubtful enterprise in Central America. So we were 
obliged to look on, while other nations tried to build a 
canal and failed. No people were more interested than 
ourselves in De Lesseps's plans. When the French failed 
and England seemed unwilling to try again, it was clear 
that no canal would be built unless by Americans. And 
so it finally came about at the close of the Spanish war, 
that our government decided that a canal must be built and 
owned by the United States. As President Roosevelt said, 
"this is the greatest engineering work the world has yet 
seen, but the canal shall be built!" 

Until 1903 American engineers favored the Nicaragua 
route (No. 4, Map V, p. 94). We cannot here mention all 
the reasons for this. Questions of climate and floods, of 
distance and ease of digging, of storms and earthquakes, 
had to be considered. The canal at Nicaragua would be one 



RIVAL ROUTES 131 

hundred and twenty miles longer than the Panama canal. 
But one hundred and seventeen of this would be through 
the great L<ake Nicaragua. Then, too, the 
San Juan river could be used in part; so that Router° 

only about twenty-seven miles would actu- 
ally have to be dug at Nicaragua. On the other hand 
the floods in the San Juan river were as severe as in the 
river Chagres at Panama, and the frequent storms on 
Lake Nicaragua presented a difficulty. It was also thought 
that earthquakes are much more severe in Nicaragua than 
in Panama, and might damage the canal or even destroy 
it. At Panama were two good harbors, a railroad from 
ocean to ocean, a canal already partially completed, and 
an immense quantity of machinery of all sorts. 

In fact, much could be said in favor of each route, and 
much was said, not only in Congress but also in our news- 
papers and in private discussions all over the country. 
Finally, however. President Roosevelt and Congress de- 
cided that if the French Panama Canal Company would 
sell all they had left at Panama for a reasonable price, and 
if we could buy a strip of land across Panama, the canal 
should be built at that point. 

The French Company wanted $90,000,000 for its prop- 
erty but at last agreed to accept $40,000,000. The Republic 
of Panama in February, 1904, sold to the United States for 
the sum of $10,000,000 a strip of land ten miles wide and 
fifty miles long extending across the Isthmus from the At- 



132 UNITED STATES TAKES POSSESSION 

lantic to the Pacific. This strip is now known as the Canal 
Zone, and it is controlled absolutely by the United States 
provided we build and operate a canal. 

Although an outlay of $50,000,000 was necessary before a 
shovelful of dirt was moved, the United States was now ready 
to build a canal at Panama. 

On May 4, 1904, President Roosevelt, in behalf of the 
American Government and people, took possession of the 
Canal Zone and all it contained, except the 
zone^^°^^ cities of Colon and Panama. These are in the 
Zone but are still a part of the Republic of 
Panama. The area of the Canal Zone is about five hundred 
square miles or about one quarter the size of the little state 
of Delaware. As we shall see, the canal route is directly 
through it from end to end. An Isthmian Canal Commission 
was appointed and the Hon. William H. Taft, then Secretary 
of War, was directed to supervise the work. Major- General 
George W. Davis was made Governor of the Canal Zone. 

A new and interesting piece of land was thus added to the 
territory of the United States (Map VII). It is, as we have 
said, 50 miles long and 10 miles wide. The American port 
of the city of Colon is called Cristobal, of the city of Pan- 
ama, Ancon. Between these two ends of the Zone the 
principal towns were Gatun, Gorgona, Bas Obispo, Empire, 
Culebra, and Pedro Miguel. While the United States was 
building the canal there were twenty-five small towns and a 
number of camps for workmen. 



GOOD GOVERNMENT ESTABLISHED 



^33 



It was no small task to establish a good government for 
all these towns and people. There must be courts, prisons 
and police, a fire department, post offices, 
schools, and all those things that would add EsubUshe? 
to the safety and welfare of those who were 
to dig the canal. 

Colombian money, for instance, was still (1903) in use on 
the Isthmus. The standard was the peso (pa'so). In name, 




Map VII. — The Canal Zone. 

at least, it was the same as our American dollar. But its 
value was less than one cent. Imagine taking a Colom- 
bian $5 bill to a bank and getting in exchange for it an 
American nickel. An amusing story is told by a gentle- 
man from New York, who invited the United States consul 
to a dinner at a hotel in the City of Panama. When the 
meal was over he found that it had cost him $1,400 in Co- 



134 



THE AMERICAN WAY 




COINS AND STAMPS 



135 



lombian money, and was not much of a dinner at that. 
Our gold dollar is now the standard money in the Canal 
Zone, though coins of the Republic of Panama are also 
used. The Balboa is the standard Panama coin. It is 
of silver, about the size of our own silver dollar, and worth 
fifty cents. 




Police Station — Ancon. 



When writing letters home from Panama we may now 
use the American post offices of the Canal Zone, but the 
letters will carry the Panama stamps, with the words Canal 
Zone printed across the face. 

Before the Americans came to Panama fires were very 



136 FIRE STATIONS 

common in the towns, especially in Colon and Panama 
City. There were no regular fire departments, and the 
volunteer fire companies were of little value. The firemen 
could not afford to leave their regular employment and 
when the fire bells rang they were, of course, scattered about 
in various parts of the town. Nor did they at once run 
to the scene of the fire, but seemed more interested in first 
exchanging their working clothes for the gay, red suits of 
which they were very proud. Meanwhile the fire had done 
much damage. 

In Cristobal we perhaps saw one of the first-class fire sta- 
tions established in the Zone by the Canal Commission. It 
is in every way as good as we have at home. Safety from 
bad fires is now assured. 



CHAPTER XII 

CONQUEST OF DISEASE 

After the United States took possession of the Canal 
Zone, as we have just described, the American people 
expected to see the canal begun at once. "Make the dirt 
fly," demanded our newspapers. There was much impa- 
tience and disappointment that for two full years little 
digging could be done. Yet plain American common sense 
tells us that an immense amount of preparatory work was 
necessary. The more we know of it, the more we shall 
admire the patient, careful way in which the Commission 
made ready for the great work. 

The lessons of past efforts at Panama were not forgotten. 
First of all, disease must be conquered. No canal work 
could hope to succeed until this was done. In the second 
place, a large force of workmen must be assembled and 
houses and food provided for them. Then, in the third 
place, plans and surveys must be most carefully made and 
a vast amount of powerful machinery secured. And while 
all these preparations were going on, waste and theft must 
be absolutely prevented. Our government expected to pay 
its workmen generously and to provide in every way for 
their comfort, but beyond that every dollar of American 

137 



138 



DOCTOR AMADOR 



money must go toward building the canal. When all these 
things had been accomplished, the dirt might really "begin 
to fly." 

One morning in the City of Panama, not long before the 
United States took possession of the Canal Zone, Dr. 
Amador met the American consul. Amador was at that 
time Chief Health Officer of the City of Panama. Some- 




Entrance to Hospital Grounds — Ancon. 



thing serious was evidently troubling him, for his face 
showed great anxiety. 

"Consul," said he, as the two men shook hands, "we 
have six cases of yellow fever in the city." 



"THEY ARE ALL DEAD' 



139 



At this bad news the consul was equally troubled and the 
two men discussed what could be done to stop the spread 




View of Hospital Grounds from Entrance — Ancon. 



of the disease. Like most Panamanians, Dr. Amador 
seemed to feel helpless in the presence of this old enemy. 

By chance the same men met upon the following morning. 

"Well, consul," said Amador, now smiling and happy, 
"it gives me pleasure to report that we now have no cases 
of yellow fever in Panama." 

"How is that?" said the consul. 

"They are all dead," replied the doctor. 

This story is often told to illustrate the way in which 



I40 AN EVIL REPUTATION 

the people of Panama had come to look upon the tropical 
diseases so common upon the Isthmus. Here, as in many 
other parts of the tropics, the people felt that nothing could 
be done to prevent the dreadful loss of life. They were 
either ignorant of the causes of the diseases or if they 
did know, they were too lazy to remove them. The whole 
history of Panama, even from the days of Columbus, was 
one long record of human lives cut off by malaria, bubonic 
plague, and yellow fever. It is true that the natives were 
accustomed to the climate and did not suffer so severely 
as those who came to Panama from other lands, but the 
death rate was always high. The number of deaths among 
the French laborers shocked the whole world. Everywhere 
Panama had an evil reputation for unhealthfulness. 

As we walk about during our stay in Panama City, we 
find many parts of the town that are still neither clean nor 
healthful. But, as a whole, the place is today as clean as 
many of the better cities in our own country. 

It is now almost impossible to believe that Colon and 
Panama City were once about as dirty cities as could be 
found in the world. But let us look at some 
Conditions pictures in order to see what the old condi- 
tions were. Here is a street in Panama as it 
looked a few years ago. Imagine attempting to cross it. 
Would you care to live on such a street? Do you see any 
signs of sewers or hydrants? Probably not, for there were 
none. Not a good sewer nor drain nor water pipe in a 



UNDER THE OLD REGIME 



141 





■:-m 


.^ 




m 


M 


iiibia^s. ' 


K ^^:^H 


(B.^ ■™^*^ i.^KKSa,--"--- 


■ - "^^^f^^W**^ 


' ■ > '- ■ . 


9 






.■^^■:.:v|fP ^ 


^M.' '|*l«fcw*« ; >^*>:r 


/■'r:;:-:«l'r., 


"n.\» 






|l_„:;^^:^ ■* 




4X -a* 






n 




'■ L £^^ '* 


!i '. 


i 


m ::::""'^Wl...SPf' 


• "li, i 


M.- 1 


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j^^HH^^Kb.- i»T^i 


t / 


-^^^^^^^HH 


^^l^^^^m- )>k^^h| 


% 


i «■"• 





142 WATER BARRELS 

f 

city of 30,000 people! Not every street was as bad as this, 
but there were many of them, and some much worse. If 
you think the street itself is filthy, suppose we pick our way 
around behind the houses. We should not care to stay 
there long, — ^just long enough to see that all the refuse 
from them found its way into the back yard. From there 
the waste water slowly ran out into the street. So much 
rainfall kept the whole mass soaking wet. The hot sun 
beating down on clear days could not dry out such places. 
Foul odors and disease must have been common. Presi- 
dent Taft said of the streets of Panama City: "They were 
muddy in rainy weather, dusty in dry weather, and full of 
disease in all weathers." 

But what were those curious looking barrels and tanks 
behind the houses? Take a careful look into one of them. 
Do you see those odd "wigglers" on the surface? They 
are little wormlike bodies and out of each a mosquito will 
soon hatch and fly away. Among these mosquitoes are, 
no doubt, some of that much dreaded sort that carry the 
yellow fever. And this dirty barrel certainly cannot con- 
tain drinking water, — and yet it does, for there is no other 
to be had in Panama City! Perhaps these barrels and 
tanks that catch the rain water on which the city depends, 
may explain why so many of the poor of Panama seem 
never to have taken a bath. 

A picture of a Colon street shows even worse conditions. 
Colon was built upon ground so low that there simply could 



UNDER THE NEW REGIME 



143 




144 WORK FOR COLONEL GORGAS 

be no drainage. The houses of the well-to-do were kept 
fairly clean, but of the houses of the poor, the less said the 
better. And all about Colon were the swamps and jungles, 
poisonous air, and more mosquitoes. 

If the two best cities of Panama were as unhealthful as 
this, what must have been the condition of the twenty or 
more miserable little towns along the line of the canal? 

It was clear to the Canal Commission at the very begin- 
ning that no canal could be built as long as filth and dis- 
ease continued. So they advised that a man be appointed 
to clean up the Canal Zone and the cities of Colon and 
Panama. He must be a man who knew about tropical 
diseases and had had experience in fighting them. He must 
have unlimited courage and patience. And he must be 
given all the money, men, and time necessary. 
Gorges '^^^ Tmni chosen for this important task was 

Colonel William C. Gorgas of the Medical Corps 
of the United States Army. Experience has shown that the 
choice was a good one. Colonel Gorgas had stamped out 
yellow fever in eight months in Havana, Cuba, where it had 
been epidemic for more than one hundred and forty years. 
But the task at Panama was much more difficult and would 
surely have discouraged a less determined man. When Colo- 
nel Gorgas completed his first inspection of the Canal Zone 
and declared that he would make it a fit place for white peo- 
ple to live in, — practically the whole of Europe laughed. Let 
us see how near he came to making good his promise. 



OLD COLON STREETS 



H5 




Copyright by Uiiderwood & Under-wood. 

Street in Colon Before Paving. 



146 HOSPITALS 

At Colon and at Panama City the French Canal Com- 
pany had built expensive hospitals. Both were large and 
finely situated, especially the one at Ancon, the suburb of 




Bolivar Street, Colon — After Americans had Cleaned and Paved It. 

the City of Panama. Colonel Gorgas enlarged and im- 
proved these hospitals and put them in charge of a corps of 
expert doctors and trained nurses. We can see for our- 
selves that they are as well equipped to care for the sick 
as are any in our own country. Smaller hospitals and camps 
for the sick were built also at convenient points along the 
canal line. 

Another thing that had to be done at the very outset was 



A THOROUGH SCRUBBING 



147 



to clear away the filth in the cities and towns, — the untouched 
accumulation of years. In the early reports of Colonel 
Gorgas we can read of tens of thousands of loads of rubbish 
and filth carted away each month. 

But to give to the cities of Colon and Panama a thorough 
scrubbing and afterwards to keep them clean, required that 
the streets be paved, that there be good sewage systems 




Copyright by Underwood & Underwoods 



Colonel W. C. Gorgas, Medical Corps, U.S.A., Chief Sanitary Officer, 
Panama Canal Zone. 



built, and a plentiful supply of good water. These three 
things required many months of labor by several thousand 
men. But we can see now that the work has been well 



148 



ABUNDANT WATER 



done. Everywhere are well-paved, dry streets and plenty 
of drains and sewers. Out in the hills behind Colon and 
Panama City excellent reservoirs were built. If we chose 




Street in Colon — Before Paving. 



to do so, we could go to see for ourselves that the water 
is abundant, pure, and good. It is piped into the cities 
and towns in such large quantities as to give to each inhabi- 
tant at least fifty gallons each day. Certainly that quantity 
should be sufhcient to keep one person clean. 

The result is that Panama City is now the best paved, 
best sewered, and best watered city in all Central America 
or the northern half of South America. 



"GETTING CLEAN AND KEEPING CLEAN" 



149 



But this work met much opposition among the Panaman- 
ians. Too many were satisfied with the old conditions. 

They 
rr did not 

want to 
be clean. They saw 
no reason for dis- 
turbing their houses 
either inside or out. 
They opposed the 
use of clean water. 
Colonel Gorgas, 
therefore, selected a 
number of men, 
mostly intelligent 
natives, and sent 
them about day 
by day among the 
poorer classes to 
teach the value of 
keeping their houses, 
their streets, and 
themselves clean. 

Slowly these health inspectors succeeded. And we now 
find all classes assisting in the work of getting clean and 
keeping clean. As for the water, it is now used freely 
by all. It is a common and an amusing sight to watch 




Street in Colon — Paved and Cleaned. 



15° 



MALARIA, PLAGUE, AND FEVER 



the negro children enjoying the cool water from the 
hydrants. 
The three diseases that are most deadly to those who 




Mount Hope Reservoir. — "The Water is Abundant, Pure, and Good. 



come to Panama from other parts of the world, are plague, 
malaria, and yellow fever. The first is usually brought in 
by rats with fleas or other parasites in ships from infected 
ports. The diseased rats on these ships carry 
it to other rats about the wharves, and thus the 
germs are carried into the houses and plague 
breaks out among the people. If plague were to go, the rats 
must go first. All incoming ships are thoroughly inspected 



Three 

Deadly 

Diseases 



THE RAT BRIGADE 



151 



and the rats are killed. Tons of rat poison were placed each 
week where the animals could easily reach it. A consider- 
able number of men were organized into a "Rat Brigade." 
Their only business was to destroy as many as possible. So 
thorough has been their work that the rats are practically 
exterminated and the Canal Zone is now free from the dan- 
ger of plague. 

The same thorough measures were taken to prevent 




Opening of Panama Waterworks System, July 4, 1905. — In Front of Cathedral. 



malaria and yellow fever. Both are diseases common in 
a tropical climate like Panama's. The danger lies in the 
fact that mosquitoes that sting patients who are sick with 



152 



DANGEROUS MOSQUITOES 



Begging for a Bath. 



either disease carry off the poison to those who are well. 

From one patient many may thus be made sick. Not all 

die who have the 
malaria but few 
recover from the 
dreaded yellow 
fever. 

The mosquito that 
carries the fever is 
called the Stego- 
myia. Having bit- 
ten a person who 
has the fever, the 
Stegomyia may 
carry the poison in 
its stinger for several 
months. Anopheles 
is the name of the 
variety that carries 
the malarial poison. 
Though it carries it 
for only a few days, 
it can fly faster and 

farther than the Stegomyia, and often bites by day as well 

as by night. 

To conquer malaria and yellow fever the mosquitoes had 

to be destroyed throughout the Canal Zone and in Colon 




MORE BRIGADES 



153 



and Panama City. This seemed like an impossible task, 
but Colonel Gorgas and his men went bravely at it. An 
"Anopheles Brigade" and a "Stegomyia Brigade" were 
formed. The people laugh in Panama today and say that 
all of Colonel Gorgas's men could be seen at times running 
after one 



Mosquito 
Brigades 




poor lit- 
tle mos- 
quito. At any rate 
it was no joke for 
the mosquitoes. 
They were attacked 
everywhere. Kero- 
sene and "mosquito 
oil" were poured 
over stagnant pools, 
rain barrels were 
screened, miles of 
ditches were dug and 
swamps drained, 
great areas of jungle 
were cut down and 

burned, and all sorts of methods were used to destroy the 
breeding places. Then the homes were frequently fumi- 
gated and most carefully screened, and cases of fever were 
separated from those who were well. Indeed, it would be 
impossible to tell here all the various methods that were 



The Bath. 



154 



HEALTH REPORTS 



taken to free the Zone of these deadly Httle pests. And 
not only was it necessary to kill those already there, but 
others had to be prevented from coming in. Constant watch- 
fulness by several thousand men was necessary. 

We must remember, too, that all this work had to be 

done at the same time 
that thousands of igno- 
rant laborers were flock- 
ing to Panama to work 
on the canal. It was 
difficult to get these 
men to take even the 
simplest ways of pro- 
tecting themselves. 

How anxiously Colo- 
nel Gorgas must have 
watched the daily and 
monthly health reports! 
As the filth and mos- 
quitoes departed, would 
King Disease go too? Slowly, month by month, the death 
rate came down. Fewer and fewer cases of yellow fever 
were reported. At last none could be found. That was in 
May, 1906. Scarcely a case occurred again while the canal 
was being built. With the fever went also much malaria. 
Cases of the latter became very mild, often scarcely more 
serious than a severe cold in a northern cUmate. 




Home Again and Happy. 



THE VICTORY WON 



155 



The great fight was expensive. Before the canal was 
finished the United States had spent for health purposes on 
the Isthmus a total sum of $20,000,000. But 

1 1 , ,1 . •, 11 Healthful 

no one now doubts that it was money well Panama 

spent. As Americans we can today feel proud 

that we have at last made it possible for a laborer to work 




'■■r, : '-: ^ ,^!, 



i^fl-n_.-,.^,. 



.i 



Avenue of Palms at Cristobal. 



in the Canal Zone with as much safety as in most parts of 
the United States. There is at present no higher death 
rate in the Canal Zone than in New York City. When 
King Disease was thus conquered, the battle for the canal 
was half won. 



CHAPTER XIII 

ASSEMBLING A WORKING FORCE 

To make the Canal Zone a fit place to work in was a 
difficult task. To secure a sufficient number of good work- 
men was another almost equally difficult. The American 
laborer is the most efficient workman in the world. If 
enough of such laborers could have been persuaded to go 
to Panama and to stay there and work, the labor problem 
would have been easily solved and the canal built in the 
shortest time. But this was soon found to be impossible. 
Though the wages offered were high, large numbers of 
laborers did not care to leave their homes in the United 
States and go away off to Panama. There were plenty of 
good opportunities for work nearer at hand. The Canal 
Commission was, therefore, obliged to secure the best 
laborers it could get in lands whose climate was similar to 
that of Panama. 

In the busiest years there were nearly 40,000 men at 
work on the Canal and the Panama Railroad. The latter 
The " Gold was now owned by the United States and run 
^^^ by the Canal Commission. Of the 40,000 men 

about 5,000 were the skilled workmen and were mostly Ameri- 
cans. These 5,000 were trained engineers, draftsmen, clerks, 

156 



"GOLD MEN" 



157 



steam-shovel men, powder men, surveyors, foremen, etc. 
Many people believe that no finer force of men than these 
Americans was ever gathered together for a great work. 

They were, indeed, a splendid lot. Without their brains 
and energy no canal could have been built. Therefore, they 
were well paid and well cared for. The pay received was 
about one and one half times as much as for similar work 




Dinner Time at a Commission Hotel. 



at home. Their wages were paid them in gold and they 
were, therefore, known in Panama as the " Gold Men." 

The contrast between these American workers and the 
natives of Panama was very striking. " You see the Pana- 



158 



A CONTRAST 



manians idling out of windows and in the shade of doorways 
watching our driving work. They are thin, slow-moving, 
impassive, often solemn. There is no glow in the dead 
yellows and browns of their flesh. But when you look at 




Copyright by Underwood &• Underwood. 

A Private Mess at Cristobal. 



our engineers, mechanics, and foremen, you see full-blooded 
health shining in their faces. They are boisterous, hard- 
working, ingenious, quick to lay hold of a pick or drive a 
spade, to show how it should be done. Their good humor 
is almost unfailing, but it never enfeebles the sharp word 
of command, as the dull Jamaicans have learned." 

Because the " Gold Men " did not fear disease in the Canal 



HOMES OF THE "GOLD MEN" 



159 




Side Street, Cristobal — Showing Dwellings of Gold Men. 




' Comfortable, Dry, Well-built Houses." 



i6o COMMON LABORERS 

Zone, many of their families went down to live with them. 
In towns like Cristobal, Ancon, and others we can see 
their comfortable, dry, well-built houses. Their children 
attended good American schools in the Zone and were as 
bright and happy children as could be found. 

In recreation hours these " Gold Men " were a jolly com- 
pany. They thoroughly enjoyed their baseball, basket ball, 
tennis, and other sports, or reading and loafing in the club 
houses provided by the Canal Commission. There were 
many of these club houses along the line of the canal work. 
They were conducted by the Young Men's Christian Asso- 
ciation. There were libraries and women's clubs too; and 
fishing parties and picnics and other pleasures made life 
agreeable for both men and women. 

The 3S,ooo common laborers were paid in the silver 

money of Panama or its equivalent, and were 

Men" ^^^^ known as "Silver Men." The usual wage 

amounted, on the average, to about $i per day 

in our money or about $2 in Panamanian money. 

We remember that when the Panama Railroad was built, 
it was found very difficult to secure laborers who could 
endure the climate of Panama and do any real work. The 
De Lesseps Company had the same difficulty. The French 
found that the negroes from the islands of the West Indies, 
especially Jamaica, were the best all-round workmen that 
could be had in large numbers. This, too, has been the 
experience of the United States. 



Y. M. C. A. QUARTERS 



i6i 




Commission Clubhouse at Empire. 




Bowling. 



i62 WEST INDIAN NEGROES 

At Panama these negroes received higher wages than they 
had ever known before and were provided with hospital 
treatment when sick and with clean dwellings and good 
food. Their houses and camps could be seen all along the 
line. Those of us who know what wretchedly dirty huts 
they are accustomed to, will understand better why they 
were glad to stay and work on the canal. A prominent 
American of long experience with these men said, — "These 
West Indian laborers have never known, and in their most 
pleasant dreams have never hoped for, the splendid care 
and liberal treatment they are receiving from our govern- 
ment on the Isthmus of Panama." 

At the mess-kitchens for the negroes the Commission 
furnished them three good m.eals per day for about thirty 
cents. It is said that at first they objected to the strength- 
ening American food because it made them feel too much 
like working. " It consisted of rice, beans, onions, fresh 
and salt beef, codfish, lard, bread, sugar, and coffee, varied 
with occasional potatoes and bananas." 

Despite good care and good food these negroes were not 
good workmen. Some were expert loafers. Many studied 
to do just as little as possible. Nearly all were dull, stupid, 
and ignorant. Their movements were slow and their efforts 
lacked energy and intelligence. Moreover, they objected to 
working in the rain and ran for shelter when the first drops 
fell. Theodore P. Shonts, at one time Chairman of the 
Canal Commission, relates the following story to show how 



HOW THE LABORERS FARE 



163 




" Clean Dwellings." — Common Laborers' Quarters, Colon. 




" Three Good Meals per Day roR Thirty Cents." 



164 



AN EXPERT LOAFER 



they worked. A heavy piece of machinery was being unloaded 
from the hold of a vessel. The tackle got caught in the 
rigging on the deck above; the foreman in charge of the 
gang of laborers sent one of them above to free the tackle. 
The laborer went to the place to which he was sent and 
did what he was told to do. The foreman, paying no 
attention to him after he started on his errand, missed 
him a few minutes later, and, looking around for him, 
discovered him sitting peacefully at the spot to which he 




Curious Turbans and Foreign Faces.' 



had been sent. "What are you doing there?" yelled the 
foreman. "You told me to come here, Sah." "Well, 
why didn't you come back?" "You didn't tell me to, 



LABORERS FROM ASIA 



165 



Sah." Altogether these men probably did not accomplish 
more than one half as much as such laborers in a cooler 
climate. 

Better than the negroes in the value of their work were 
some East Indians. There were not many of them on the 
canal. They had come chiefly from Asia to the British 
West Indies and thence to Panama. What odd-looking 
fellows they were ! The curious turbans on their heads and 




A Group of Spanish Laborers. 



their foreign faces made them seem quite out of place on 
an American canal. They were much larger and more en- 
ergetic than the negroes and, though slow in their move- 



i66 



SPANIARDS AND ITALIANS 



ments, worked quietly and steadily. The Commission was 
very glad indeed to get them, for they were thoroughly 
good workers, peaceful, sober, and industrious. They could 
usually be seen carrying the 50-lb. boxes of dynamite from 
the powder houses to the other workmen. They were 
proud of their race, remained closely by themselves, and 
even in Panama kept many of their native customs. 

Of all the " Silver Men," the Spaniards and Italians were 

the best. They 
did twice as much 
work per day as 
did the negroes, 
and they received 
much more pay. 
There were about 
8,000 of them at 
work in the Zone. 
Nearly all came 
directly to Panama 
from Spain or 
Italy. The Span- 
iards were perhaps 
less likely to suffer 
from the climate 
and, therefore, accomplished more. They were small in 
size but muscular, willing to be taught, and anxious to be 
promoted to better positions as subforemen or foremen of 




A Gang of Italians. 



OTHER "SILVER MEN" 



167 



their work. Where strength and intelligence were needed, 
these men could be depended upon. No amount of rainy 
weather kept them from the work. 

There were laborers of many other nationalities here and 
there on the canal work, but they were few in number. 




\ '<s> 



Interior of a Mess Hall for European Laborers. 



Taking the " Silver Men " as a whole, we can see that 
they were of many races and languages, poor workmen, 
and hard to handle. And yet, under the leadership of the 
'' Gold Men," they could and did build the canal. 

One more thing remains to be considered in respect to 
the working force. It is the problem of feeding them and 



A DIFFICULT PROBLEM 



of providing them with clothing and other necessities. Over 

40,000 persons to be fed and the markets 2,000 miles away! 

Certainlv that was no small matter. But here, 

Supplies " r 1 1 1-1 

too, the same careiul plans were laid as 
for other parts of the work and the same satisfactory 
results followed. At Cristobal and at twelve other vil- 
lages stores were built, in which food and all other neces- 




Typical Labor Train. 



sities could be purchased at prices only slightly above cost. 
An ice plant was erected at Colon and with it a cold storage 
plant, so that meat and vegetables and other perishable 
food could be kept in as good condition as in any part 



SATISFACTORY RESULTS 169 

of the United States in summer time. Early each morning 
a special train with cold storage cars was rushed out over 
the railroad to carry supplies to all points on the canal 
line. So it came about that quite as good food was served 
in the hotels and mess-kitchens as is provided for men in 
similar work in the United States. 



CHAPTER XIV 

MACHINERY AND THE PANAMA RAILROAD 

It is an old saying that a poor workman puts the blame 
for his poor work upon his tools. It is equally true that 
a good workman cannot work well with poor tools. The 
United States government determined that whatever the 
quality of the laborers at Panama might be, the tools and 
machinery should be the very best. 

We have spoken of the American laborer as the best in 
the world. He does the most and in the shortest time. 
This may be so in part because he has better machinery 
with which to work. American inventors and machinery 
lead the world. All over our broad land, on the farms 
and in the factories, in the mills and quarries, on the rail- 
roads, and hidden in the unseen parts of great buildings, 
ships, and mines, is a vast amount of wonderful machinery. 
It does easily, cheaply, and swiftly, work that no number 
of human hands could do. 

Perhaps the most interesting to watch are those great 
machines that accomplish the heavy tasks of cutting, lift- 
ing, or carrying. There were many of this sort at work 
on the canal. Indeed, it would be safe to say that without 
the splendid American machinery that our government was 

170 



OLD MACHINERY USED 171 

able to secure, no 'canal could have been built at Panama. 
Human hands alone could never have done the work. 

When our government purchased the property of the 
French Canal Company, it came into possession of an 
immense amount of machinery of all sorts, scattered along 
the line of the canal. That was in 1904. Much of the 
French machinery had been at work as far 

back as 1889, and so, of course, was OUt-of- Machinery 

date. Much also had been ruined by rust and 
neglect. Some, however, could be used. For instance, it 
was found that more than one hundred and twenty-five of 
the old French locomotives could be repaired and put to 
work again. Some old dredges, scows, tugs, dump cars, 
etc., with many miles of track, were still ready for service. 
What work the Canal Commission accomplished during the 
first two years of preparation was in large part done with this 
old machinery. Some of it was in use until the canal was 
completed. It has been said that the old French machinery 
was worth fully $2,000,000 to the United States. 

In general, however, an entirely new outfit of tools and 
machinery was necessary. Here again the distance of 
Panama from supplies of this sort added tre- 

1 1 ^ \-rr ■, • t ^CW Outfit 

mendously to the dimculties. Locomotives and 
dump cars, dredges and steam shovels, barges and rock 
crushers, and a vast amount of hand tools were purchased 
and shipped to the Isthmus. In the Zone itself docks for 
handling machinery, coal, lumber, etc., were built. Long 



172 



SPLENDID NEW EQUIPMENT 



lines of track were laid to carry the machinery and supplies 
to the scene of work. The largest cement-mixing and 
handling plants ever built were here constructed. Com- 
pressed-air plants to furnish power for the drills, and great 




" One of the Two Greatest Repair Shops.' 



general repair shops were erected. The splendid equipment 
for work which the Commission was able to secure aston- 
ished those who later traveled along the line of the canal. 
At Empire, for instance, was one of the two greatest repair 
shops. It was close to the line of the canal. Notice how the 
railroad tracks were arranged so that even the largest pieces 
of machinery could be brought directly to the shop. In this 



THE GREAT STOREHOUSE 



173 



one place nearly 1,000 men were at work. The shops were 
modern in every way and equal to the best railroad repair 
shops in the United States. Here was a foundry and a 
lumber mill and everything necessary to repair or rebuild 
any piece of machinery on the canal. 

Near the repair shops was the great storehouse. Here 
were great rooms with shelves on shelves containing over 
10,000 different articles used in the canal work, and all 




Storehouse at Empire. 



neatly labeled and laid away. It was a common sight in 
this great storehouse to see some workman rush in with a 
note from some engineer or foreman out on the canal. A 
steam shovel had broken down or a drill was out of order 



174 



AMERICAN METHODS 



and a new part was needed at once. Immediately the men 
in charge of the storehouse could pick out the exact article, 
and before one knew what had happened, the workman was 




Ten Thousand Articles — " Neatly Labeled and Laid Away." 



out again on the canal and the broken machine was soon 
repaired. This was the American way, — no confusion, no 
lack of materials, no delay. Time was as valuable at Panama 
as in New York. 

Around the shops and storehouse at Empire there grew 
up the largest town in the Canal Zone, exclusive 
of Colon and Panama City, It was a pleasure 
to see how clean and neat the whole place was. It was more 



Empire 



PANAMA RAILROAD 



175 



like a park than a town. The ground had been cleared 
of jungle for a long distance away from the houses. Here, 
as in all the canal towns, the Commission had done every- 
thing to make living comfortable and healthful. 

When the United States purchased the French Com- 
pany's machinery, it also secured the Panama Railroad. 
Like almost everything else left by the French it was in 
need of repair. Its docks, yards, warehouses, tracks, loco- 




" Powerful Locomotives were Also Added." 



motives, and cars were not fit for the great increase in busi- 
ness which at once came to the Isthmus. The road had 
been in the habit of doing everything in the most expensive 



176 



A FIRST-CLASS RAILROAD 



way. The unloading of coal from steamers is a good exam- 
ple. It was done almost entirely by the hands of negro 
laborers and cost $1.30 a ton. The Commission put in a 
modern coal-hoisting machine and did the work better 




" Soon the Road was in First-class Condition." 

Private car of Chairman of Isthmian Canal Commission. 

and quicker for 12 cents per ton. In the same manner 
the road was improved by heavier rails, by double track 
for nearly all of its length, by new and better wharves, and 
by larger yards and cars. Eighty-two powerful locomotives 
were also added. Soon the road was in first-class condition. 
But all this work required many months of labor and 
much money. Real digging was still delayed. 



CHAPTER XV 

SEA-LEVEL AND LOCK CANALS 

The two years filled with the slow and costly work of 
preparation which we have been describing, seemed very 
long indeed to those who wished to see the "dirt fly." We 
can now^ understand clearly why so much delay was neces- 
sary. The canal could not be built without it. And when 
the work of digging once began it could go faster and more 
successfully. 

During these two years also a careful study was made 
of the land between Colon and Panama City, in order to 
see what sort of ship canal was best for the Isthmus at that 
point. Ship canals are not all alike. There are two kinds 
or types, as they are called, that we must understand before 
we can know what was done at Panama. 

The first is the sea-level type. This type is easy to 

understand. A sea-level ship canal means merely a great 

open ditch dug at the same level between two 

bodies of water. The water flows freely ^^^f^""^^ 

through it from one end to the other. It is 

dug as deep and as wide as is desired. The canal is thus 

what the geographies would call a very narrow "strait." 

177 



lyS CORINTH CANAL 

Ships can pass back and forth through it from ocean to 
ocean without difficuhy or delay. 

Of the nine ship canals of the world three are sea-level 
canals. They are the Cronstadt, the Corinth, and the 
Suez canals. With the latter we are already acquainted. 
The Cronstadt is in Russia. It is 20 feet deep, about 300 
feet wide, and is about 16 miles long. The cost was $10,- 
000,000. The canal was opened in 1890. The Corinth 
canal is in Greece and connects the Gulfs of Corinth and 
JEgmsi. The length is but 4 miles. The work was begun 
in 1884 and completed in 1893, The cost was $5,000,000. 
A picture of this canal, with Mr. J. P. Morgan's yacht Cor- 
sair passing through it, gives a very good idea of a sea- 
level ship canal. 

This picture also shows several interesting things about 
the Corinth Canal. As can be seen, it is perfectly straight. 
This is true for its entire length. The depth of water in 
the canal is 26 feet, but the width at the bottom is only 
69 feet and at the water's surface only 80 feet. Imagine 
a great ocean liner like the Lusitania, — 88 feet in width, 
attempting to squeeze through. It would be impossible. 
Two very much smaller vessels could not pass each other. 
It is clear that in its present condition it is not useful for 
the large ships that carry the commerce of the world. 

No other ship canal has so high or so steep banks. 
This is possible only because it was cut down through 
granite and hard clay, and because the rainfall during 



AN OLD-WORLD ENTERPRISE 



179 




Copyright by U7ider'Wood & Underwood. 

The "Corsair" Passing Through the Corinth Canal. 



i8o ST. MARYS FALLS CANAL 

the year at Corinth is not great, and no rivers flow into 
the canal. 

But this sea-level type of canal is not possible where the 

two bodies of water to be connected are not on the same 

level or where the land between them is too 

high to be cut through. In such cases a lock 

canal is necessary. This is the second type. 

To understand exactly what a lock canal is, let us take 
an illustration from our own country. The St. Marys 
Falls Canal connects I^ake Superior and Lake Huron at 
Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. Some of us have seen this 
little canal and perhaps have passed through it. It is but 
i|- miles long, and is i6o feet wide and 25 feet deep. The 
important thing to notice concerning it is the fact that 
Lake Superior is about 20 feet higher than Lake Huron. 

If a ship on Lake Huron sails into the lower end of the 
canal and wishes to pass on to Lake Superior, it must be 
lifted 20 feet at some place in the canal. If, on the other 
hand, a vessel wishes to pass in the opposite direction, it 
must be lowered 20 feet. This raising and lowering is done 
in a portion of the canal known as a lock. 

How does a lock work? Some pictures and a drawing 

may help to show. In the drawing the lock is seen to be 

a portion of the canal enclosed by strong walls 

and by two double gates A and B, one at each 

end. The walls are usually of masonry or concrete. 

Power is supplied by machinery, so that the gates can be 



HOW A LOCK WORKS 



i8i 



opened or closed at will. Below gate A the water is at 
the lower level and a vessel is ready to sail into the lock. 
The water in the lock is at the lower level. Suppose that 
the gates at A are then opened. The vessel passes through 
into the lock and the gates are tightly closed after her. We 




Diagram Showing Operation of a Canal Lock. 



can now see her in the second position, ready to be raised. 
The inside of the lock is connected with the outer water lev- 
els by large pipes. When the flood gates in these pipes are 
opened the water from the higher level rushes in and rapidly 
fills the lock. The vessel meantime has been lifted by the 
in-rushing water until she floats in the lock on a level with 
the upper part of the canal. Then the gates at B are thrown 
wide open and the vessel sails away through the remainder 
of the canal. 

The same thing can be done for a ship that wishes to 
go in the opposite direction. The gates at B are opened 
when the lock is full of water. The vessel passes in and 



l82 



A STEAMER IN THE LOCK 




THE ST. MARYS FALLS LOCK 



183 



the gates are tightly closed after her. Next the flood gates 
are opened, the water in the lock runs out until it is down 
to the lower level, the gates at A are then opened wide and 
the ship continues on her journey. 




An Empty Lock — Sault Ste. Marie Canal. 



Now, if we look at the picture of the great locks in the 
St. Marys Falls Canal, we can see the process actually 
going on. In this canal there are two locks 
side by side with a power house between them operation 

to furnish the power needed to operate the 
gates. In the distance, on the left of the picture, the upper 
level of the canal can be seen. Nearer to us is a vessel 



i84 TWO BUSY LOCKS 

in the lock. We can see that the flood gates are being 
opened, for the water is rushing out, white with foam, 
directly toward us. It will not be long before the water 
has all run out and the ship been dropped to the lower 
level and then be ready to leave the lock. The lower level 
is shown in the foreground, and on it another vessel is 
v/aiting to enter the lock and be raised. On the right- 
hand side of the power house a third vessel has been low- 
ered from above and is just passing out of the other lock. 

Probably none of the large-sized locks in the world are 
more busy than these two at St. Marys Falls. More ships 
pass through this canal in a year than through any other 
ship canal, — three times as many as at Suez. They carry 
over 30,000,000 tons of freight and thousands of passengers. 

When two locks are placed side by side, as these two 
are, they are said to be "in duplicate." If Lake Superior 
were much more than 20 feet higher than Lake Huron, 
one lock would probably not be able to do the work of 
raising and lowering the vessels. Several locks might then 
be built, — one directly following the other, and each capa- 
ble of raising or lowering ships for a part of the full dis- 
tance required. The locks would then appear somewhat 
like great steps, one above the other, A number of locks 
so arranged are called a "flight of locks." "Flights of 
locks" may also be "in duplicate," 

We can now understand what is meant by a lock canal. 
The Erie canal, for instance, between Albany and Buffalo, 



ERIE CANAL 185 

is only seven feet deep, and is not therefore a ship canal; 
but its locks are on the same plan as those just described, 
though smaller. In the 38 7 miles of this canal there are 
72 locks. Of the nine ship canals of the world six are of 
the lock type. 



CHAPTER XVJ 

THE LOCK CANAL AT PANAMA 

What is the best type of canal for Panama? At first 
thought this would not seem to be a difhcult question to 
answer. If a deep channel, at least 500 feet wide at the 
bottom, could be cut from ocean to ocean and could be 
kept clear for the passage of ocean vessels of the largest 
size, it would be, of course, the ideal canal. But it is cer- 
tain that such a sea-level canal would cost at least $500,- 
000,000 more than a good lock canal and would require 
very many years to build. The idea of ever digging such 
an enormous ditch was given up as impracticable more than 
twenty years ago. 

De Lesseps originally planned a sea-level canal. It was 
to be 29 feet deep and 72 feet wide at the bottom. He 
declared that it could be built in eight years for about 
$128,000,000. Before his scheme failed he had been 
forced to change his plans to the lock type with a depth 
of only 15 feet. 

The United States took possession of the Canal Zone in 
May, 1904, For more than two years the type of canal 
that we were to adopt was in doubt. Probably no engi- 
neering question of this sort ever aroused more widespread 

186 



BEST TYPE FOR PANAMA 187 

interest in America. While the prehminary work of clean- 
ing the Zone and making it a healthful place, and securing 
workmen and machinery, was going on, scores of engineers 
were at work on the canal plans. Holes were dug and 
borings made in many places to find out what sort of soil 
or rock lay beneath the surface. Surveys of all sorts were 
made and maps drawn. Both Houses of Congress dis- 
cussed the problem at great length. And magazines and 
newspapers printed hundreds of articles on the subject. 

In order to secure the most expert advice President 
Roosevelt appointed in 1905 a board of consulting engi- 
neers consisting of thirteen men. Of these, „^ „ ^ 

c3 5 The Board 

eight were Americans and five were foreigners, of consulting 
This board included some of the world's fore- 
most authorities upon the construction of dams and canals. 
These men visited the Isthmus, studied all the facts they 
could secure, and listened to all who had ideas to suggest. 
Finally, in January of 1906, they made their report. Tliree 
Americans and all the five foreigners favored a sea-level 
canal. The five other Americans voted for a lock canal. 
At the same time the Isthmian Canal Commission, which 
was actually to have the digging in charge, voted 5 to i 
in favor of the lock type. So it was difficult to decide 
which of the two types was really better. 

Before we examine the two types more carefully, we 
should remember the following facts about the canal route. 
First, a canal of either sort would be fifty miles long, from 



i88 A DIFFICULT ROUTE 

Atlantic to Pacific, 41 miles through the land and 9 miles 
of channel in the harbors at the two ends. Second, the 41 

miles through the land naturally divides itself 
the Route '^^^^ ^^^^ parts. PYom Colon, on the Atlantic, to 

Bohio, the route passes for 12 miles through 
low swampy ground not much above sea level. During 
the next 15 miles, from Bohio to Bas Obispo, the land rises 
to about 50 feet above sea level. Thence the canal cuts 
tlirough the hills for 9 miles more to Miraflores. The 
highest point of land is Gold Hill at Culebra and is 662 feet 
above the sea. But there is a "saddle" between the hills 
through which the canal will run, which, at its lowest point 
is 312 feet above sea-level. This part is the famous Culebra 
Cut. It is mainly through a moderately hard rock. From 
Miraflores to the Pacific is a distance of 5 miles and is about 
at sea level. Third, the greatest difficulty is the control of the 
floods of the Chagres river and its many tributaries. For 
23 miles the route follows the valley of this river and crosses 
and recrosses its bed. This Chagres is an unruly stream. 
Though it is only a small stream in the dry season, in flood 
time tremendous quantities of water rush down its valley. 
It is estimated that during the great flood of 1879 it was, 
for several hours, three fourths as large as the Niagara 
river. A canal of either type must be so built as to pro- 
vide safe protection from such great floods. 

Bearing these facts in mind we are now ready to exam- 
ine the two types. Those engineers who favored a sea- 



SEA-LEVEL PLAN 189 

level canal proposed a narrow channel of 41 miles in 
length, from 150 to 200 feet in width at the bottom, and 
40 feet in depth. This is 10 feet deeper and 

1 J. . , Sea-levef 

about 70 feet wider on the average than the canai at 

Suez Canal. It would not be possible to make Panama 

the width greater without too great expense. Nor would 
it be possible to dig a perfectly straight channel as at 
Corinth. Nineteen of the 41 miles are on curves such that 
vessels would be obliged to sail very carefully, — not over 
4 miles per hour. If two ships were to pass each other, 
one must be stopped and tied to the bank, in order to avoid 
danger of collision. Two of the largest ocean liners could 
not pass at all. 

For the first 25 miles from Colon the channel would be 
largely through soft, swampy mud and not through rock. 
No one knows whether it would be possible to dig a ditch 
50 to 90 feet deep through such material and prevent the 
banks from constantly caving in and obstructing the chan- 
nel. Through the 9 miles of the Culebra Cut the ditch 
would be through rock and from 100 to 373 feet in depth. 
No such enormous rock cut as this has even been accom- 
plished. 

It is estimated that this sea-level plan would require the 
excavation of at least 300,000,000 cubic yards of earth and 
rock. Each cubic yard would weigh about a ton. Can 
we picture to ourselves such a great mass? If it were piled 
up into a wall 3 feet wide and 20 feet high, it would extend 



igo LOCK PLAN 

entirely around the world at the equator ! To dig this 
canal would require fully eighteen years of labor and be- 
tween $500,000,000 and $600,000,000 in money. The mind 
is staggered by these figures. 

Now, if we look at Map VIII, we can see what the pres- 
ent lock canal is like and how it differs from the sea- 
level type. In route and length it measures 
atPananTa ^^^ Same as the sea-level plan. There must 
be the same channels also in the harbors at 
both ends. Beginning first at Colon a nearly straight 
channel has been dug at sea-level for 2^ miles to Gatun. 
It is 41 feet deep and 500 feet wide. At Gatun a great 
dam has been built across the valley of the Chagres. This 
now forms an artificial lake 165 square miles in area. The 
surface of the water in Gatun Lake, as it has been named, 
stands 85 feet above sea-level. Beside the Gatun dam, a 
duplicate flight of three locks has been constructed to raise 
and lower vessels this distance of 85 feet. For 23 miles 
beyond Gatun the channel passes through the lake and is 
from 500 to 1,000 feet in width and from 45 to 85 feet in 
depth. The same water level continues through the Cule- 
bra Cut to the Pedro Miguel Locks, and here the channel 
measures from 300 to 500 feet wide. At Pedro Miguel one 
lock in duplicate will raise or lower vessels 30 feet. Below 
it is the little Miraflores Lake and just beyond it there is 
a duplicate flight of two locks with a combined lift of 55 
feet. Then comes 4 miles of sea-level channel 500 feet wide 



THE CANAL ROUTE 



191 




Map VIII. — Route of Canal and Railroad, 



192 



FRIENDS AND ENEMIES 



and 45 feet deep to the waters of the Pacific. A simple dia- 
gram of this plan may help us to remember the figures. 

Its enemies have made the following objections to the 
lock type of canal for Panama, — first, that the Gatun dam 
now rests on an unsafe foundation of earth; second, that 









hl-^ 










_l ^0 






Xfi 




_, < 






V^ 




u -1 -J 








2sru LU.J 






0.^ 








o*- 








_lg 




5:^0: Q^;;^ 










Om 






2*. 




OLiL-i -1 






Z):^ 




Q~i li. ij-i" 






(3 


GATUN LAKE 


CULEBRA CUT°" p p~" 




ATLANTIC 
SEA 




2SM.,es 




PACIFIC 
SEA 


LEVEL 5m. 


'z^m^ 




^ 3 m. 


4ni. LEVEL 



Diagram Showing Lock Type of Canal at Panama. 

the locks are so much greater in size than any ever built 
that serious accidents might happen in them to injure 
vessels and hinder traffic; third, that the locks will 
delay the vessels in transit; fourth, that they might be 
destroyed by earthquakes, and fifth, that an enemy with 
guns or dynamite might so injure them in time of war as 
to put the canal out of commission for many months or even 
years. 

The friends of the lock type of canal declare that these 
supposed dangers either do not exist or are unimportant. 
They think that the lock canal has many marked advantages. 
It is estimated that it has been built in one half the time 
required for the sea-level canal, — that is, in about nine years. 
It has cost at least $200,000,000 less. It has required only 
one half the excavation. Dangerous earthquakes, they say, 



THE FINAL DECISION 193 

do not occur on the Isthmus. And because vessels can 
travel at full speed in Gatun Lake, and will be delayed but 
three hours in the locks, the total time of transit will be no 
more than in a narrow and crooked sea-level canal. 

Most important of all the advantages, we are told, is the 
great Gatun lake. It is now so large that the Chagres 
floods that pour into it will affect its level no more than 
would a cup of water poured into a tub. The Chagres 
river will thus serve merely to supply the water necessary 
to operate the locks. As one well-known engineer has said, 
the lock canal has transformed the Chagres river " from 
a dangerous enemy into an excellent friend." 

All these points and many others scarcely less impor- 
tant were carefully considered by Congress during the 
winter of 1905-6. Though a majority of the Decision in 
members of the Board of Consulting Engi- ^^vor of a 

Lock Canal 

neers voted for the sea-level type, both Mr. 
Roosevelt and Mr. Taft favored the lock canal. On Feb- 
ruary ig, 1906, President Roosevelt, in a message to Con- 
gress, declared, "In my judgment a lock canal is advis- 
able." At the same time Mr. Taft wrote of the sea-level 
canal that "the time and cost of constructing such a canal 
are in effect prohibitory." After much discussion Congress 
finally adopted the same view and, on June 29, 1906, voted 
to build the lock type of canal at Panama. Since that date 
the work done on the canal has more and more clearly 
shown the wisdom of this choice. 



CHAPTER XVII 

BUILDING THE CANAL 

To many of us the study of types of canals will be rather 
tiresome and the figures hard to remember. Instead of 
carrying this on further, let us imagine ourselves going out 
for a day's trip, in the year 1910, to see the machines and 
men at work on the great ditch. It will be more interesting. 
If we do succeed in remembering some facts about the lock 
type, we shall understand more easily what they are trying 
to do. 

Scarcely two miles from the City of Panama is the 
Pacific end of the canal. It comes out into a large bay or 
harbor at the base of Ancon hill. This is called the Port of 
Ancon. At the mouth of the canal is a small town named 
La Boca, or Balboa, as it has more recently been called. 
There is a good chance that we shall see in the harbor 
near Balboa some old French ladder dredges. 
They have been repaired by our men and put 
to work at the task of cutting out a channel from the canal 
mouth to deep water in the Pacific. Each dredge has a 
series of large buckets on a sort of endless chain. A power- 
ful arm carries the buckets to the bottom and when they 

are set in motion they each cut away and bring up and 

194 



OLD-STYLE DREDGES 195 

dump a small load of earth. The material which is thus 
dredged up is loaded on scows and carried where needed, 
or more often carried far out to sea and dumped. 

There is also another old style dredge at work. It is 



An Old French Ladder Dredge — La Boca. 

known as a dipper dredge, because it has a very long arm 
with a sort of dipper on the end. With this it reaches down 
and scoops up the bottom. 

If we count the channels to be dug in the harbors at 
Colon and Balboa, as well as the low swampy parts of the 
canal at each end, we shall find that nearly sixteen miles will 
be cut out by dredges. This method is so much cheaper 



196 



RAPID WORK 




AMERICAN SUCTION DREDGES 



197 



than any other way of digging, that our engineers use 
dredges wherever possible. 

The American suction dredges are much more powerful 
than the old French machines. What odd-looking affairs 
they are, like great, floating docks with engines and ma- 
chinery on board and with a deck and rooms above for the 
workmen to live in. Each dredge has a tube stretching 




"Men at Work Drilling Holes for the Charges." 



away from it like an enormously long tail. Upon inquiry, 
we shall find that each dredge has large suction pipes that 
extend downward to the soft muddy bottom. This is 
rapidly sucked up through the pipes and then forced out 



198 



BLASTING 



through the long tube and deposited wherever it is desired. 
When the bottom is too hard for the suction pipes to draw 
up, it is often loosened by charges of dynamite. This 




Loading Drill Holes with Dynamite. 



method of digging by dredges costs only about eleven cents 
per cubic yard. As fast as a dredge cuts out the channel 
it is floated along from place to place. In very hard soil 
or rock, a dredge is of no value. 

Another interesting feature of the work is the blasting. 
It would be safe to say that without power- 
ful explosives the canal could not be built. 
Dynamite is the chief one used. In the year 1908, 8,850,000 



Blasting 



DRILLING 



199 



pounds were shipped from the United States for use during 
the next twelve months in the Canal Zone. 

All along the portions of the canal that extend through 
rock and hard soil, we can see the men at work drilling 
the holes for the charges. Some are made only 3 or 4 
feet deep, others are 10 or 20 times that depth. These 
drills are about the noisiest machines on the canal. The 
clatter of a half dozen of them is almost deafening. They 




Explosion in Progress, Matachin. — 19 Holes, 11,200 Pounds Dynamite, 
17,980 Cubic Yards Displaced, January 10, 1908. 



are worked by compressed air from the power plants. It 
is brought in long pipes to each drill. 
Usually many holes are drilled for each explosion of 



200 POWDER MEN 

dynamite. They are skillfully arranged by the "powder 
men" to get the greatest possible effect. When the holes 
are all charged, the drills are moved away and the workmen 
retire to a safe distance. An electric wire extends to a cap 

















■ 


fe 


1 


-, 






R 


m 


1 


^^ 


^ri 




1 *P'^ 


^.^M 




^ 


^ 



Loading Dirt Train by Steam Shovel. 



in each hole, and pressure on a single button sets off the 
entire charge. A rumbling sound is heard. The earth in 
the neighborhood heaves and trembles. And great masses 
of mud and water and rock are thrown into the air. It is 
often the case that a number of tons of dynamite are 
exploded at one time. Imagine an amount of rock larger 
than a six-story building torn away by one explosion, and 



STEAM SHOVELS 



20I 



broken and churned into such small pieces that it can be at 
once loaded on cars and carried away. 

In the care and use of the dynamite the workmen have 
become very expert. It is true that every now and then 
the charge in some particular hole fails to go off. This 
fact will probably escape the notice of the men. When 
later the hole is disturbed an explosion may occur and cause 
much injury or 
even death. The 
hospitals treat 
many men injured 
by the blasts. But 
on the whole the 
serious accidents 
are surprisingly 
few. 

When the soil or 
rock is shattered 
by the blast, the 
steam shovels can 
dig it up and load it 
on the dump cars. 
Long trains of these loaded cars are constantly being drawn 
out of the great ditch. They will be dumped at some con- 
venient point and the cars rushed back for fresh loads. 

There are about one hundred steam shovels at work on 
the canal. It is certainly fascinating to watch one of them. 




Steam Shovel — Showing Arm and Dipper. 



202 



A CLOSER VIEW 



Running on a little track of its own, it slowly moves for- 
ward, as it eats its way through the broken rock or soil. 
Let us go up close to it in order to see exactly 
Shovels how it is built and how it works. Note the let- 

ters I. C. C. on its side. These mark it as the 
property of the Isthmian Canal Commission. And note 
also, the smaller letters which tell that it was built at Marion, 




A Five-yard Dipper. 



Ohio, or at South Milwaukee. The shovel itself seems to 
be somewhat like a long railroad fiat car. Covering a large 
part of the car is a sort of iron hood. Inside of this hood 
is the powerful engine and the wheels and gears that control 



A GIANT AT WORK 



203 




204 "ALMOST HUMAN" 

the shovel. Attached to the forward end of the car is an 
immense steel arm. This arm can be swung freely from 
side to side by large chains connected with the machinery 
inside the hood. Swung from the arm is a great shovel or 
dipper, as it is called. On the larger steam shovels the 
dipper is of sufficient size to hold five cubic yards of ma- 
terial. This means nearly five tons of earth or rock. The 
bottom of the dipper can be swung open at will, in order 
to dump out the contents upon the flat cars. On a seat at 
the base of the long arm sits the man who guides its move- 
ments. 

As we stand watching, a locomotive pushes up beside 
the shovel a long train of empty flat cars. With a loud 
clatter of chains and the hiss of escaping steam the dipper 
is lowered. See the almost human way in which it digs 
in its teeth and comes up again full of the rough, broken 
material. The long arm swings the dipper over a flat car, 
the bottom opens, and the load is dropped on the car at 
the exact spot where it is wanted. And back again goes 
the dipper for another load. Perhaps this time it is a single 
great rock that is to be lifted. To get beneath this rock 
and to nicely balance it on the dipper requires such wonder- 
ful skill on the part of the steam shovel men as only long 
practice can give. Up comes the rock, nevertheless. Before 
we realize it, the flat car is loaded and another is pushed 
into its place. And so the work goes on from hour to hour 
with much noise and steam and smoke. 



THROUGH THE ROCKS 



205. 




2o6 THE AMERICAN SPIRIT 

Upon the locomotive engineers depends the important 
work of supplying empty cars for the steam shovels to fill. 

Unless there are cars at hand the shovels must 
Records*"'" ^^^P" ^° there has grown up among these 

engineers a rivalry to hold the record for the 
largest number of cars handled in a day or week or month. 
Each engineer takes unusual pride in his engine and his 
record. Each is determined to beat the others. 

This same rivalry is especially keen among the steam 
shovel men. Every crew is anxious to hold the record for 
the largest amount of material excavated. Each shovel is 
pushed to the limit of its capacity. In an eight-hour day one 
of them has been known to excavate and to load on cars 
almost 3,500 cubic yards. This means about 160 car loads 
or one car every three minutes. In the Canal Record, a 
paper issued weekly in the Zone, the best shovel records 
are published. Take as an example the issue of May 26, 
1909. More than a column of the paper was occupied by 
the records of the steam shovels for the month of April. 
The following is a single paragraph: 

The record for a single day's excavation was broken on 
April 8, when 57 shovels took out 78,559 cubic yards, an 
average of 1,387 cubic yards per shovel. The best day's 
record for one shovel during the month was on April 12, 
when No. 266 in the Culebra District excavated 3,340 
cubic yards. 



"GOLD MEN" AT WORK 



207. 



We can easily understand the pride which the crew of 
shovel No. 266 took in their shovel and their record, and 
the struggle which they would make to continue to hold it. 

We cannot fail to note, as we examine the men at work, 
that the same spirit seems to animate all the " Gold Men." 
The American laborers know that they are down here on 
the Isthmus for a great purpose. W^hen off duty they are 




Steam Shovel at Work on the Site for the Pedro Miguel Locks. 



a joking, jolly lot of men. But when at work the set, stern 
expressions on their faces show that they know that their 
work requires the best that is in them. In some ways the 
great steam shovels and their crews, more than anything 



208 



THE PAY TRAIN 



else In the Canal Zone, seem to represent that fine, deter- 
mined, fearless, and energetic American spirit, that we 
believe will conquer all difficulties in the end and complete 
the canal. 




Long Trains of Flat Cars at Bas Obispo. 



Interesting to spectators as well as to the workmen is 
the coming of the pay train each month. Though there 
are between 30,000 and 40,000 men at work 
daily, the entire length of the canal is so great 
that only a few can be seen at any one place. 
We shall find no better opportunity to observe large groups 
of the men than at the stations where the pay train stops. 
It is interesting to note also the large amount of coin han- 



Forty-four 
Tons of 
Silver 



FORTY-FOUR TONS OF SILVER 



209 



died by the paymaster. The silver pay roll amounts to 
nearly $1,600,000 in Panamanian money per month. Each 
$1,000 weighs fifty-five pounds. The total, therefore, equals 
forty- four tons. We are told that five men are almost con- 
stantly at work counting this money and putting it up in rolls 
convenient for payment. 

Only those who visited the canal as far back as 1904 can 




" Coming of the Pay Train." 



fully appreciate all that has been done along the route 
to make it a comfortable and healthful place 

T . 1 1 -TTTi 1 1 Culebra 

m which to work, when we reach such a 

neat, clean, well-built town as Culebra, for instance, we 



2IO 



NEAT, CLEAN, WELL-BUILT 




THE MONSTER DAM 211 

can scarcely realize that here was once a dense jungle unfit 
for human habitation. Now we find a town of 5,000 
people. It has its own electric light plant, water works, 
sewage system, library, and club houses. The streets are 
clean and the houses dry and comfortable. So it is all 
along the line. 

Of course, the two points of greatest interest are the 
Gatun Dam and the Culebra Cut. The monster dam is 
to be nearly a mile and a half long, across the 

^ Gatun Dam 

Chagres valley. It is difficult to find a point 
from which we can view the whole of it. Let us take our 
stand on the hillside near the cut for the Gatun locks. 
In the distance are the hills on the opposite side of the 
valley, and spread out before us is the valley itself with 
the Chagres river winding back and forth along it. At our 
feet is the cut for the flight of three locks. They will 
have a usable length of 1,000 feet, a width of no feet, and 
a total lift of 85 feet. There are no locks of this size in the 
world. Though the rock cut for these locks is completed, 
the work of putting in the concrete walls and bottom and 
the machinery will probably require more time than to 
complete all the remainder of the canal. A steady stream 
of concrete is being poured into the cut for all the twenty- 
four hours of each day. Not until this work is finished can 
ships cross the Isthmus. 

The dam itself is beginning to rise across the valley. 
Dredges and steam shovels are sending in material for it 



BUILDING A LAKE 




"LIKE A SMALL MOUNTAIN" 



•213 



in large quantities. Every load will be needed, for the great 
dam is to rise 115 feet above sea level and will be 100 feet 
wide at the top and 1,900 feet at the widest part of the 
bottom. It will be like a small mountain running directly 




Excavating for Gatun Locks. 



across the Chagres valley; and, as President Taft says, 
"will be as solid as the everlasting hills." With all its floods 
the Chagres will require a whole year's time to fill to the 
required level the basin thus made. Yet some day there 
will be a fine, deep lake behind this dam. The largest 
vessels can push through it at full speed without the slightest 
danger. 



214 



THE GREAT DITCH 



But the most impressive sight of all is the Culebra Cut. 

This is the most gigantic cut ever attempted by engineering 

science. Culebra is the backbone of the Isth- 

Culebra Cut 

mus. Here the fight with nature is fiercest. 
Over fifty steam shovels and their determined crews are 
making the attack. For nine miles the great ditch must 
be dug down through the solid rock, in places to a depth 
of more than 300 feet. The shovels are taking out from 




Excavation for Gatun Locks Completed. 



one million to one and one half million cubic yards per month. 
Yet how slowly the ditch grows! 

Let us look down into it from a point opposite Gold Hill. 



THROUGH SOLID ROCK 



215 



Here the cut will be deepest. It is already so enormous 
that the workmen on the farther side appear like pigmies. 
How many steam shovels and trains of cars can you count? 




• Most Impressive of All is the Culebra Cut." 



Can you see the highest line of cutting on the slope of Gold 
Hill? That is the level where the French started their 
work. Below this is the American cut. More than eighty 
feet must still be taken out. Nowhere can we get a better 
idea of the magnitude of our Government's great task at 
Panama than right here opposite Gold Hill. 

Yet we are told that the Culebra Cut is more than half 
finished. On this particular nine miles of the canal the 



2i6 PROGRESS IN EXCAVATION 

halfway mark of American excavation was passed on 
October 23, 1909. The record for excavation in Culebra 
Cut on that date stood as follows: 

Excavation by French, 1882 to 1904 . . 24,588,520 cubic yards 
Excavation by Americans, 1904 to 1909, 39,002,299 ' ' 

Excavation remaining 39,002,299 ' ' 

If the present rate of excavation can be maintained, this part of 
the canal should be completed by the end of the year 19 13. 

Early in the same month of October, 1909, the grand 
total of American excavation throughout the entire length 
of the canal had reached 87,494,537 cubic yards. This 
was half of the total excavation that was necessary when 
the United States took possession to complete the canal 
from sea to sea. 

All along the route the work is progressing rapidly. At 
no time since our government took possession has the num- 
ber of laborers been so great as during the autumn of 1909. 
Fewer changes are taking place in the force, and a larger 
number seem to have come with the intention of working 
for a long time in the Zone. 

Already there are small portions of the canal in which 
the excavation is nearing completion. Five miles of the 
channel in the Bay of Panama are open to navigation, as 
far as the wharves at Balboa. On November i, 1909, a 
steam shovel was working on the bottom of the canal near 
Mindi at forty-one feet below sea level. 



FORECAST OF THE END 217 

It is the construction of the great concrete locks at Gatun 
and at Pedro Miguel that is expected to delay the opening 
of the canal until 19 15. How tremendous this concrete 
work is to be, is easy to understand when we are told that 
at Gatun alone it is estimated that 2,250,000 barrels of 
cement will be required. Nevertheless the end is now 
surely in sight. The canal is more than half finished. By 
19 1 5 we may hope to see it entirely completed. 

On November 22, 1909, Mr. Tawney, chairman of the 
Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representa- 
tives, sent to Colonel Goethals the following message: 

" The Committee on Appropriations extend to you and 
your associates their hearty congratulations on your splendid 
organization and the marvelous progress you have made the 
past two years." 

When we finally leave Culebra Cut and return by train 
to Panama City, we shall surely feel that our day on the 
canal line has been well spent. We shall have a new interest 
in American methods and American machinery and a new 
pride in American pluck and energy. F. S. Brereton, a 
distinguished Captain in the English army, describes con- 
ditions in the Canal Zone as "a marvel of organization, 
and something to l)e carefully noted and remembered by 
those who in future have similar work to undertake." The 
Canal Zone is, indeed, the "best great construction camp 
that the world has ever seen, and one of which every Ameri- 
can should be proud." 



CHAPTER XVIII 

THE GIGANTIC DAM AND LOCKS 

During the busiest years of construction, from 1909 to 
1 91 4, a constantly increasing number of sightseers journeyed 
to the Isthmus and took a trip out over the canal work such 
as we have just described. The army of workmen, the 
rushing trains, the great machines, the deepening cuts, the 
wonderful organization, stirred the imagination and roused 
increasing enthusiasm for American methods and American 
workmen. More and more attention was focused on the 
gigantic dam and locks at Gatun. These were the greatest 
constructive features of the canal work. 

Of the three dams on the canal route the two at Pedro 
Miguel and Miraflores, near the southern end of the Culebra 
Cut, are comparatively small. The Gatun dam is the im- 
portant one. Nearly eight miles from deep water in Limon 
Bay the hills which bound the lower valley of 

Gatun Dam •' ■' 

the Chagres come nearest to each other. Here 
it is but one and one-half miles across the valley from the 
hills on one side to those on the other. Had Nature placed 
a low ridge from hill to hill at this point, a great lake would 
have extended back for many miles. What Nature failed 
to do our engineers have done. 

218 



GATUN LAKE 219 

Midway across the valley rose a small, low hill of solid 
rock. Securely anchored to the hills at either end and to 
this central hill, the monster dam completely closes the 
valley. A mile and a half long, nearly half a mile wide at 
the bottom, 400 feet wide at the water's surface, 115 feet 
above sea-level at the crest, its slopes clothed in tropical 
vegetation, it now appears far more like a low-lying ridge 
than like an artificial structure raised by the hand of man. 
Thus the Chagres valley is turned into a huge reservoir. 
The surface of the lake behind the dam is 85 feet above sea- 
level and the lake itself extends far up the valley and through 
the Culebra Cut for more than 20 miles across the Isthmus. 

Fully eight years of labor were required to construct the 
dam. In 1905 and 1906 designs and plans were completed. 
In 1907 borings were made and test-pits dug over the entire 
area on which it rests, in order to establish beyond any 
doubt that the foundations would be both suitable and 
secure. In 1908 the site was cleared. Then trains of flat 
cars began to dump masses of broken rock from the steam 
shovels on other parts of the canal work in two retaining 
walls across the valley about 1,200 feet apart. These walls 
were known as the toes of the dam. Into the great space 
between them suction dredges began, in March, 1909, to 
pump a mixture of sand, clay, and water. As the water 
drained away, the sand and clay remained to form the core 
of the dam. This hydraulic fill, as it was called, continued 
steadily, as did also the building of the toes, until the dam 



220 



THE COMPLETED DAM 



was completed in the summer of 191 3. The total of all 
the material put into it was more than 30,000,000 cubic 
yards. 

How well the work was done and how wise was the choice 
of the site were shown when the lake rose to its full height. 
No water was able to force its way through or under the 
dam. The saying of Ex-President Taft that the dam "will 
be as solid as the eternal hills" seems to have proved true. 

Every dam must have a spillway or place through which 




Gatun Dam Spillway. 



All Crest Gates in Position. Water running through 
Temporary Openings. 



the surplus water behind it may flow off. To maintain 
the lake at the desired level and to store water for the use 
of the locks during the dry season such a spillway had to 



PIERS AND GATES 221 

be built into the Gatun dam. Through the soHd rock of 
the httle central hill a channel about 300 feet wide was 
cut, with its bottom not much above sea-level. This 
channel was then lined with concrete and a 

The Spillway 

massive concrete spillway constructed across it. 
On the top of the spillway abutments and piers were raised 
to the full height of 115 feet. Between these piers 14 
gates were placed and machinery for raising and lowering 
them. By operating these gates the surface of the lake is 
kept at the desired level. Each gate is 47 feet long and 19 
feet high and weighs 44 tons. It was built of steel girders 
and sheathing, and these were put together at some dis- 
tance from the dam. To construct these gates was a work 
of great accuracy, as only one-eighth inch play was allowed 
between the gates and their bearings. So nicely was the 
work done that when the gates were finally loaded on flat 
cars, moved out over the dam, and dropped into place, each 
fitted precisely into its bearings, even though in one case 
there proved to be but one-sixteenth inch play. 

The first gate was installed in December of 191 2, and all 
were in place and closed by July i, 1913. By December 
of that year the lake had reached its operating level. 

The spillway was so constructed that a part of the over- 
flow from the lake passes through a power house below and 
generates electricity to operate the lock gates, machine 
shops, and dry dock, to light the locks and Zone towns, and 
to perform many other services along the canal. 



222 MASSIVE LOCKS AND GATES 

And so, what De Lesseps and his associates laughed at as 
impossible when it was first proposed in Paris thirty-five 
years before, became an accomplished fact. A great lake 
was created on the surface of which ships may cross over the 
greater part of the Isthmus. One observer has declared 
that the dam and lake are "undoubtedly the greatest liberty 
we have taken with the landscape." This is no doubt 
true. Yet the dam and lake fit so naturally into the con- 
formation of the region that they seem "to have been 
there from the dawn of time." 

To use the lake, ships must, of course, be raised and lowered 
the 85 feet from sea-level to its surface. This great task 
the locks perform. On the Pacific slope, the locks are 
separated into two parts, — one at Pedro Miguel and one 
at Mirafiores. The chief interest in the locks centers at 
Gatun, for here the locks on the Atlantic slope are massed 
together in one great duplicate flight. 

Now that the water has been let into the latter, visitors 
cannot get so powerful an impression of their enormous mass 
and strength as during the years of their construction. "It 
is impossible to convey in words," said a distinguished 
writer, "anything approaching an adequate conception of 
the picture which the series of locks, with their massive, 
towering walls, and their equipment of colossal gates, pre- 
sents. It defies description, as it does the camera. It is 
stupendous, prodigious, overwhelming, — even these adjec- 
tives are inadequate." 



THE FLOORS LAID DOWN 



223 



We have already learned that by 1909 the site for the 
locks at Gatun was prepared. At one side of the dam and 
for a distance of nearly three-quarters of a mile steam shovels 




Copyright by UnderwoocL & Underwood. 

Chamber Cranes in Operation at Miraflores. 

had dug down into the solid rock for foundations. Mixing 
plants to handle the sand, crushed stone, and 

^ ' ' Gatun Locks 

cement were built. Towers, tracks, cableways, 
cranes, and buckets were made ready for laying the concrete. 
Then slowly the great floor of the locks was laid down, — 
400 feet in width and more than 3,000 feet in length. Into 
this floor many passages, called lateral culverts, were built 



224 



CENTER AND SIDE WALLS 



to carry the water to and from the lock chambers. From 
these culverts thirty openings or wells were extended upward 
into the chambers. A diagram of a cross section of the 
lock chambers will help us to understand how this was done. 




"Work on the Side and Center Walls." Note the Tapering Side Wall. 

When the floor was at last completed the work on the side 
and center walls began. The side walls were built 45 to 
50 feet in width at the surface of the floor and were per- 
pendicular for their entire height on the inner face. On 
the outer face, at a point 24 feet above the floor, these walls 
began to taper until they were but 8 feet in width at the 
top. The middle wall was made 60 feet in width and per- 
pendicular on both faces. All three walls extended upward 
over 80 feet. 



A HELPFUL DIAGRAM 



225 















3 — ' jn 

S 2 & 



e ^ U hJ 

MM 

K| fe. tj m 



° i! >> S 

O tU OJ H 

'*-' -T? S 0) 

>, "" nS U 

cd S .g > 

i ^ "§ 3 



(S o fi u 



't; cci o Q 



226 



A STRIKING COMPARISON 



Into these walls still larger culverts were built to convey 
water to and from the lateral culverts. To fill a lock i,ooo 
feet in length and no feet in width requires a large amount 
of water. To raise or lower vessels without delay the water 
must be let in or drawn off with great rapidity. Hence 
it was necessary to make all culverts of large diameter. How 
huge indeed are the walls and culverts is shown by the little 
sketch in which the former are compared in size to a six- 
story building and the latter are shown to be quite large 




Side Wall of Locks compared with Six-story Building. 



TOWERING WALLS 



227 



enough for a horse and wagon or for a full-sized locomotive 
to pass through. The upper part of the middle wall was so 
built that there are in it three tunnels or galleries. The 
lowest is for drainage. The middle is for the electric wires 
that carry the current to operate the lock gates and ma- 
chinery. The upper is a passage for the operators. 




CopyrigM by Underwood, & Underwood. 

" Like the Walls of a Great City." Lower Locks at Gatun. 

Growing slowly upward from the foundations during the 
years from 1910 to 1914, the walls at length reached their 
completed state. Then it was that their tremendous 
strength and massiveness could be appreciated. More than 



228 



THE GATES IN PLACE 



2,000,000 cubic yards of concrete had gone into them. The 
colossal walls towered upward, as the artist Joseph Pennell 
declared, "like the walls of a great city." 




CopyrigM by Underwood & Underwood. 

Lock Chamber at Gatun. Note the Gates and the Openings from Lateral 
Culverts in the Bottom. 



With the lock walls completed the time had come to erect 
the lock gates and to place the machinery for operating them. 
The gates are of steel plates on a framework of steel. They 
are 7 feet thick, 65 feet long, from 47 to ^2 feet high, and 
weigh from 300 to 600 tons. Yet when set up they were so 
skillfully constructed and so nicely balanced that they move 
easily, quickly, and smoothly. 



TOWING LOCOMOTIVES 



229 



Biit lock walls and gates are not in themselves sufficient 
to ensure the safe passage of vessels. No ship can be per- 
mitted to enter or to pass through a lock under its own 
power. On the top of the walls of each lock tracks were 
laid and electric towing locomotives supplied to tow vessels 
into and through it. Two of these locomotives attach 




Copyright by Underwood & Underwood. 

One of the Locks at Miraelores, showing the Lift of Twenty-eight Feet 
TO THE Next Lock, a Nearly Completed Pair of Gates, and One of the Thirty 
Holes through which the Water Enters. 



230 SAFETY DEVICES 

hawsers to the stern of each ship, and two to her bow, and 
are thus able to regulate to a nicety the progress through 
the locks. These locomotives are equipped to climb the 
steep inclines from one lock level to another. 

Except for the movement of these locomotives all other 
operations necessary to pass a vessel through the locks 
are directed by a single operator high up in a building on 
the lock walls from which he can observe the entire passage 
from end to end. Electric switches on a great control- 
board make him complete master of the locks. 

Since ships are expected to pass through the locks by 
night as well as by day, the locks are lighted by electricity. 
On all the locks of the canal there are more than 500 lamp- 
posts. 

To these devices for securing the safe passage of vessels 
there were added also every conceivable protection for the 
locks and gates. All the locks are protected by great fender 
chains, so that if by any chance the operators lost control 
of a vessel and it was in danger of ramming the walls or 
gates, its movement could be at once checked before damage 
was done. These chains, 24 for the entire canal, are among 
the largest ever constructed. Their average length is 427 
feet and their average weight about 18 tons. As an added 
protection against flooding the locks emergency dams were 
placed on the lock walls. Should necessity arise, the dam 
framework can be swung out over a lock, the gates low- 
ered, and the water from above safely held back. 



SEPTEMBER 26, 1913 



231 



In 1 91 3 the locks were so nearly completed that water 
could be let in and the first vessels passed through to test 
the operation of gates and machinery. The west flight at 
Gatun was the first to be tested. September 26, 1913, 
was indeed a memorable day in the history of American 




Emergency Dam swung across Lock. Gates being Lowered. 



First Lockage 



work at Panama. During that day crowds of spectators 

had been gathering at the locks to watch the 

water let in through valves and culverts from 

the lake above and to see it pass on down to the lowest 

lock chamber. At 4: 45.p.M...the_sea-.gate was swung open 



232 



WATER ENTERS THE LOCKS 




THE FIRST TEST 



22>S 



and the tug Gatun, with flags flying, whistles blowing, 
and crowds cheering, passed into the lower lock. The gates 
were closed behind her. Without accident or delay of any 
sort she went on smoothly upward from lock to lock and 




'She went on smoothly upward from Lock to Lock." 



out on to the broad expanse of Gatun lake. The locks and 
operating machinery had met every test and had responded 
to every demand made upon them. It is true that the 
Gatun was but a tiny boat when compared to the great 
vessels that now pass through the canal, but the successful 
operation of the locks was assured. The capacity of Gatun 
locks was more nearly tested on October 9, when a 



234 



OTHER LOCKAGES 



dredging fleet of thirteen vessels was lifted together through 
them from sea-level to the lake. 




Dredging Fleet entering Upper West Chamber of Gatun Locks, October g, igi3. 

The first lockage at the Pacific end was accomplished on 
October 14, with the same precision and speed as at Gatun, 
and by May, 191 4, for all the locks, more than 100 lock- 
ages had been successfully made. 

On June 8, 19 14, as a final test of the ability of the 
locks to handle ocean-going vessels of large size, Colonel 
Goethals ordered the Alliance of the Panama Railroad Steam- 
ship Line to pass up through the Gatun locks to the lake 



THE FINAL TEST 



235 




Copyright by Underwood & Underwood. 



The Final Test. 



Steamship Alliance being towed by electric locomotives through Gatun Locks. Locomotive in fore- 
ground beginning to climb incline to next higher lock. 



236 



DAM AND LOCKS COMPLETED 




Dredging Fleet entering East Chamber of Pedro Miguel Locks on October 24, 

1913- 

and return. This was accomplished "without a hitch of 
any kind." 

The gigantic dam and locks were thus completed. 



CHAPTER XIX 



THE CANAL COMPLETED 



As work on the canal neared its end, certain days were 
marked as days of unusual interest. They were days 
which signified the completion of important parts of the 
great task. Five of these days are particularly worth 
remembering. One, September 26, 1913, we have al- 
ready noted. On that day the tug Gatun made the first 
passage through any of the canal locks. 

Of equal interest was an event which had occurred four 
months earlier, on the 20th of May, 191 3. 
The great Culebra Cut was nearly finished. ^t^^l^e^l 
For nine years the excavation had been going 
on there. Nearly 100,000,000 cubic yards of earth and 
rock had been removed. Throughout a large portion of 
the Cut the bottom level had already been reached. One 
great portion still remained to be dug away. At one end 
of this, steam shovel No. 230, and at the other end No. 
222, began to dig toward each other at the final level. 
When they met on May 20 the bottom had been reached 
for the entire Cut. What the French had tried in vain to 
do, what mankind had long hoped for, was at last accom- 
plished. The backbone of the Isthmus was broken and 

237 



238 



STEAM SHOVELS LEAVE CUT 




CovVTight by Underwood & Underwood. 

May 20, igi3. Steam Shovels meet on Bottom of Culebra Cut. 



the greatest obstacle to the canal was removed. There 
remained only the work of widening, and of clearing away 
the debris and the Cut was entirely completed and ready 
for the water to be let in. By the end of the following 
summer the drills were at work on the last ledge, and on 
September 11, 1913, the last steam shovel left the Cut. 

To one who stood at the place from which the "Great 
Ditch" could best be seen, it now appeared like an enormous 
scar on the face of Nature. For miles it stretched on 
through the hills. Far above was the line where French 



THE - BOTTOM REACHED 



239 




Deills at Work on Last Ledge in Culebea Cut, — August 14, 19 13. 



240 



OCTOBER 10, 1913 



excavation ceased and far below the bottom reached by 
American energy and perseverance. 




Deepest Excavated Portion of Culebra Cut. Gold Hill on Right and Con- 
tractors Hill on Lept. 



Only the broad dike at Gamboa kept the waters of 
Gatun lake from flowing into the Cut and extending through 
its full length to Pedro Miguel locks on the Pacific slope. 

The third memorable day came on October 10, 191 3, 
The Cut when the Gamboa dike was blown up by a 

Flooded single great explosion of dynamite. For a 

week water had been running into the Cut from four 



GAMBOA DIKE BLASTED 



241 



1 


Tj 




i 


'■?' !^' , ^,,^ : 


H 


i 






^^^M^P^9@iHHM 


1 




'^ 


m 


I 


^ 


'«■■ 'H 




1 . ,-J 



242 FROM WASHINGTON TO PANAMA 

24-inch pipes extending from the lake through the dike, 
but as yet it was only partially filled. Into the dike it- 
self, which was 600 feet long, 1,277 holes had been drilled 
to a depth of 20 to 35 feet each and had been charged 
with dynamite. The length of these holes, if placed end 
to end, would have equaled nearly eight miles. The 
blast was to be set off by the throwing of a small electric 
switch. The latter had been connected by cable with 
Galveston, Texas, and from there by telegraph wires with 
Washington, D.C., a total distance of 2,000 miles. Presi- 
dent Wilson had agreed to press a lever in the nation's 
capital which would blow up the dike and bring the canal 
one step nearer to completion. 

On Friday, October 10, witnesses gathered in large 
numbers on hillsides and canal banks. At 2 : 02 p.m. the 
President pressed the lever, and the electric current sped 
away on its mission of destruction. At Gamboa the earth 
shook and heaved upward with the mighty impulse. High 
into the air shot a mass of water, smoke, and fragments. 
Gamboa dike was gone. A great volume of water rushed 
in to fill Culebra Cut to the desired depth. 

And now it would seem that the canal work was done. 
The Gatun dam and lake were finished, the locks practi- 
cally completed, the hills pierced by the great Cut, and the 
water let into it. But the forces of Nature were not yet 
wholly conquered. One more obstacle tried the skill and 
patience of our engineers. 



ONE MORE OBSTACLE 



243 



We have already seen that as the Cut was sunk deeper 
and deeper, the banks had a tendency in places 
to give way. Masses of earth and rock slipped 
down into it and buried tracks, steam shovels, and other 
machinery. Often months were required to remove ma- 
terial from the Cut which had slipped in in a few hours' 




" A Great Volume of Water rushed In." 



time. Then, too, the weight of these slides frequently 
upheaved the bottom of the Cut, displaced tracks, and 
caused an enormous amount of damage and delay. A 



244 



BREAKS AND SLIDES 



dozen or more of these slides had existed for years. The 
most serious were on the banks of the deepest portion of 
the Cut, and at Cucaracha a vast sHde had impeded progress 




Break in East Bank of Culebra Cut. Steam Shq-vel No. 201 in Midst of 
Upheaved Material and Displaced Tracks. 



almost continuously and greatly annoyed and discouraged 
our engineers. During 1913 these slides were very active. 
Just before the time that the Cut was flooded with water 
through Gamboa dike, fresh breaks occurred and several 
million cubic yards of material began to slide into it. In 
fact, the Cucaracha slide completely filled it from bank to 
bank for a distance of many hundred feet. 

With water in the Cut it was quite impossible to remove 



CUCARACHA SLIDE 



245 




246 



THE LAST EXCAVATION 



these slides by steam shovel. It was therefore decided 
to lock dredges upward from the two ends of the canal, 
to float them into the Cut, and to set them at work cutting 




Dredges excavating Cucaracha Slide. 



away the slides. This was begun in October, 191 3, and 
by January, 191 4, a channel of sufficient width and depth 
had been secured to permit the passage of vessels through 
the entire length of the Cut. Many months of steady dredg- 
ing were still needed to remove the slides entirely from the 
channel and to reduce them to a point where they would 
cease to endanger navigation. 

January 7, 1914, was the fourth important date. On 



JANUARY 7, 1914 247 

that day the derrick barge Alex. La Valley made the 

first continuous passage of a self-propelled ocean to 

vessel from ocean to ocean through the canal. ^^^^ 

It was clear then that the canal was so nearly completed 



CuLEBEA Cut Flooded. Looking North from West Bank near Cunette. 

that it could successfully do the work for which it was 
designed and built. 

Shortly after the Alex. La Valley passed through the 
canal the tug Reliance came through to Colon from the 
Pacific entrance. Since this vessel had previously sailed 



248 



A UNIQUE RECORD 



from Colon via the Straits oi Magellan to Panama, it had, 
when it again reached Colon, the proud distinction of 
being the first ship of any sort to have sailed entirely around 
the continent of South America. 

Another vessel at Panama with a unique record is the 
ladder dredge Corozal. She was built in Scot- 
land and set out, in 191 2, on the long journey 
from Scotland around South America to the Pacific en- 
trance of the canal, where later she was engaged in dredging 



The Corozal 




Seagoing Ladder Dredge Corozal. 



the channel. In 117 days she covered the total distance 
of 2,064 miles. It is believed that this is the longest voyage 
ever taken by a dredge with her superstructure in place 
ready for digging. She is an excellent example of the 



NEW PANAMA RAILROAD 



249 



powerful dredges that cut away the Cucaracha sHde and 

will continue to keep the canal free from such obstructions. 

During the last years of canal construction a new route 

for the Panama Railroad was built. A large part of the 




PoKTiON OF Relocated Panama Railroad. Looking up Pedro Miguel Valley. 



old route was to be covered by the waters of Gatun Lake 
and a new route was necessary. While the road was being 
relocated neither labor nor money was spared to make it a 
first-class line in every respect. 

So, too, it was with the fortifications of the canal. A 
board of competent engineers and military men studied to 
fortify and to protect the canal so thoroughly that the hun- 



250 



THE CANAL FORTIFIED 



dreds of millions of national money spent on the Isthmus 
might not have been spent in vain and that 
the canal might be absolutely controlled by our 



Fortifications 




Copyright by Underwood & Underwood. 

New Panama Railroad Station in Panama City. 



country in times of peace and of war alike. All private 
ownership of land in the Zone was prohibited. Permanent 
quarters for infantry and artillery were constructed and 
forts built at either entrance to the canal. The armament 
in these forts consists of 28 twelve-inch mortars, 12 six- 
inch guns, 10 fourteen-inch guns, and one sixteen-inch gun. 
The latter is perhaps the most powerful gun in the whole 
world. It has an effective range of about 16 miles. 



BUILDING AT BALBOA 



251 




252 MAY 4, 1914 

Early in 1914 the entire canal work was practically com- 
pleted. The machine shops and huge docks at the terminals, 
Ten Years of ^^^ Hghthouscs and othcr aids to navigation, 
Canal Work thestoragc basins for coal and oil, the dry docks, 
the equipment for supplying all the needs of ships passing 
through the canal, were all finished or nearly so. Colonel 
Goethals had been appointed Governor of the Panama Canal 
and a permanent form of government and a working force 
provided. Then it was that the last of the five memorable 
days came. This was May 4, 191 4. This day marked 
the end of exactly ten years of American occupation and 
work at Panama. It was on May 4, 1904, that the 
canal property of the French Canal Company was trans- 
ferred to the United States. It is interesting to note 
that the other great Isthmian canal at Suez was also ten 
years in building. The long years of patient toil at 
Panama were ended. In the next few months the finish- 
ing touches were given to the work, in order that it 
might be wholly completed and ready for the formal 
opening to the commerce of the world on January i, 
1915. 

Thus our government had completed the mighty task. 
In efficiency, engineering skill, and honest expenditure of 
vast sums of money it had given an object lesson to the 
whole world. It had accomplished, as Ambassador James 
Bryce declared, "the most gigantic effort yet made by man 
on this planet to improve on Nature." 



A GIFT TO THE NATIONS 253 

The official seal adopted by the Panama-Pacific Inter- 
national Exposition artistically symbohzed the purpose 




Columbia presents a New Commercial Liberty to the World. 

and spirit of the great work and of the opening of the canal 
to the world. In the background is the canal with locks 
through which are passing ships of the eastern and western 
hemispheres. In the foreground the figure of Columbia 
stands upon a globe so placed that the Isthmus appears 
severed from ocean to ocean. She bears a sheathed sword 
to indicate her readiness to protect the canal her sons have 
built. Above her head floats the nation's flag. In her left 
hand is a shovel and in her right, an olive branch. These 
indicate that the new commercial liberty which the long 
years of digging have secured Columbia presents to the 
peoples of the world in the hope that it may contribute 
to the peace and happiness of mankind. 



CHAPTER XX 

THE MEN BEHIND THE CANAL 

When the canal was at last completed, the satisfaction 
and pride of Americans in this national work began more 
than ever to show itself. The press, the universities, learned 
societies, and the public at large hastened to honor in every 
possible way the men who had led the canal forces. Then 
it was possible, too, to look back over the ten years of suc- 
cessful labor and to determine to whom the chief credit 
was due. 

Just as no general can win victories unless supported by 

a loyal and capable army, so no body of engineers, however 

skillful, can accomplish great tasks without 

The Workers 

the support of a body of able workmen. Of 
the canal workers Colonel Goethals said, "No chief of any 
enterprise ever commanded an army that was so loyal, so 
faithful, that gave its strength and its blood to the success- 
ful completion of its task as the canal forces." They braved 
the dangers of a strange climate and of strange diseases. 
It is, first of all, a monument to the great company of 
Americans who put their hands to the rough work of digging 
at Panama. Their strength and faithfulness built the 
canal. 

254 



THE FIRST COMMISSION 255 

Great credit, too, is due to the members of the Isthmian 
Canal Commission. Since March of 1Q04 the , ^ . 

^ Isthmian 

work was under their control. They cleared Canai 

the ground, laid the plans, hired the men, 
purchased the machinery, and directed the work. They 
met and conquered the difhculties. And hardest of all, 
they bore much undeserved and bitter criticism. 

A complete account of the Canal Commission would 
make too long a story for our attention here. Yet we should 
know a few facts concerning it. The Commission ap- 
pointed in 1904 was composed of seven members, with John 
G. Walker as chairman. The latter was a Rear-Admiral 
of the United States Navy, on the retired list. He had been 
at the head of two former commissions which had been 
sent to study canal routes at Nicaragua and Panama, and 
was familiar with the general subject of the canal. Asso- 
ciated with him were Major-General George W. Davis and 
five expert engineers. The Commission thus formed held 
office for about one year. In July of the same year John 
F. Wallace, an eminent engineeer of Chicago, was appointed 
Chief Engineer. Dr. W. C. Gorgas, Colonel in the Medical 
Corps of the United States Army, was made Sanitary Officer 
of the Canal Zone. This was the group of men which be- 
gan the slow and difficult task of preparation with which 
we are already acquainted. They worked against dis- 
couraging odds both at Panama and at Washington, but 
accomplished much of great value. 



256 



THE COMMISSION OF 1909 




CHANGES 257 

The Commission was reorganized in April of 1905. 
Five of the old Commission resigned and five new men took 
their places. The new Chairman was Mr. Theodore P. 
Shonts, of lUinois, a railroad president. Mr. Wallace con- 
tinued as Chief Engineer, but was now also a member of the 
Commission. Under this new control the work was contin- 
ued for two years more, except that Mr. Wallace resigned in 
June, 1905. Mr. John F. Stevens took his place. Both 
men made first-class records on the Isthmus. 

On April i, 1907, a change in the Commission was again 
made. There were new conditions at Panama that made 
the change seem necessary. This time the positions of 
Chairman and of Chief Engineer were combined as one office, 
and Lieutenant- Colonel George W. Goethals, of the United 
States Army Engineer Corps, was appointed to fill the 
place. Furthermore, the members of the new Commission 
were ordered to make their headquarters at Panama instead 
of at Washington, D.C., in order that they might be in more 
close personal touch with the work. Colonel Gorgas was 
made a member of this Commission and continued in 
charge of the sanitary work in the Zone. This Commission 
remained, with practically no changes, until the end of the 
work. 

Lieutenant- Colonel Goethals was graduated from West 
Point in 1880, and became an Engineer Officer in the United 
States Army. Before the opening of the Spanish War 
he had had many years of experience in the construction 



258 GREAT AMERICANS 

of dams and locks and had become an accomplished and 
expert engineer. During the war he was made Chief 
Engineer of the First Army Corps. He was detailed to 
the General Staff in 1903. As Chairman and Chief Engineer 
at Panama he not only won the respect and admiration of 
all who came in contact with him, but began at once to 
make greater progress in canal work than was ever thought 
possible. We cannot look at his erect figure and fine face 
without knowing that he represents the very best spirit 
and traditions of the American Army. 

The great skill, the high character, and the splendid 
enthusiasm and industry of this body of men will not soon 
be forgotten by the American people. 

Of Colonel Gorgas, Bishop Bury of British Honduras 
declared, "He is one of the very best, simplest, and most 
inspiring men I have ever met." This ex- 
presses the opinion of those who know him 
best. The whole world has honored him for his remarkable 
record in sanitation and in fighting disease in Panama. 

In many way the most pathetic incident in the whole 
long story of canal digging was the death of Lieutenant- 
Colonel David duBose Gaillard. With Colonel 

Gaillard . /^ i i o-i i 

Goethals and Lieutenant- Colonel bibert he was 
the most widely known of the army engineers of the Canal 
Commission. For seven years his genius directed the con- 
struction of the Culebra Cut. Quiet, modest, clear-sighted, 
he was "a great engineer, an unflinching worker, and a 



PRESIDENT WILSON'S TRIBUTE 259 

true gentleman." The strain of work in a tropical climate, 
the baffling problem of the constant slides in the Cut, and 
his unceasing application to his work at length, in 191 3, 
broke him down both physically and mentally. His dear- 
est hope had been that he might witness the Cut completed 
and the water let in ; but when Gamboa dike was blasted 
on October 10, 191 3, he lay unconscious in a hospital in 
Baltimore, and died there on December 5. 

At the annual banquet of the National Geographic So- 
ciety in Washington, D.C., on March 3, 1914, President 
Wilson, in behalf of the Society, presented to 

Goethals 

Colonel Goethals a special medal in recognition 
of his eminent services as Chairman of the Commission 
and Chief Engineer in the construction of the canal. Such 
a special medal had been awarded by the Society only 
twice before, — to Robert E. Peary for the discovery of the 
North Pole, and to Roald Amundsen for the attainment of 
the South Pole. "I take it for granted," said the President, 
"that we do not to-night forget that distinguished group 
of men who have been associated with Colonel Goethals ; 
that gallant and devoted soldier. Colonel Gaillard, who 
gave his very life to see that a great work was done at the 
Culebra Cut ; that man who made so much of this work 
possible. Surgeon- General Gorgas, by knowing how to hold 
disease off at arm's length while these men were given leave 
to work ; also Colonel Sibert, who built the Gatun Dam 
and created the Gatun Lake, making it look to the eyes of 



26o 



THE GREAT LEADER 




Colonel George Washington Goethals. 



"GRATITUDE AND ADMIRATION" 261 

the uninitiated as if Nature had done the work over which 
he himself presided; and also Colonel Hodges, who made 
the locks and the machinery by which these great things 
are administered. 

"But we are merely to-night acknowledging the presid- 
ing character and genius which drew all the elements of this 
work together, which made it a work done by colaborers, 
not by rivals ; work done as if it were the conception of a 
single mind; work done in the spirit of service and self- 
effacement which belongs to a great servant of a great gov- 
ernment. There is nothing selfish in the eminence of Colo- 
nel Goethals. It is representative of a great profession. 
It is representative of a great government. It is representa- 
tive of a great spirit. 

"And so I esteem it a real privilege, acting on behalf of 
this Society, to present to you. Colonel Goethals, this very 
beautiful medal. It is made of mere gold, and gold is of 
no consequence in this connection, sir; but it speaks, in 
the most precious metal we know, the gratitude and the 
admiration of the nation." 

These graceful sentences expressed the sentiments of 
the American people. 



CHAPTER XXI 

FUTURE OF PANAMA AND THE CANAL 

If we were able to look into the future and to know what 
the next four hundred years of Panama history are to be, 
we might find a story quite as romantic and interesting 
as has been the history of the past four hundred years. 
Though this pleasure is in part denied to us, we may feel 
sure of at least a few things that the years will bring. 

The days of pirates like Henry Morgan are passed. 
The city of Panama will never again need the protection 
Growth of oi its old, moss-covcrcd walls to save it from 

Panama bauds of robbers and cutthroats. Wars may 

come again and the Bay of Panama be filled with battle- 
ships, but homes will be safe and peaceful trade will take 
the place of plunder. 

What a long tale of death by murder and disease has filled 
the past four hundred years ! This cannot be in the future. 
As the jungle is cut away and the swamps are drained, as 
roads are built and towns grow up, we may hope to see the 
whole of Panama as healthful as is the Canal Zone to-day. 
Colonel Gorgas exploded the idea that white men from 
Europe and America cannot live with safety in Panama. 
In fact, American brains and money made the Canal Zone 

262 



WILL THE CANAL PAY ? 263 

an object lesson in health for all the tropical parts of the 
world. 

Coal and oil and the precious metals are known to lie 
buried underneath the hills. And the soil is splendidly rich 
for all sorts of tropical agriculture. Men are sure to go in 
larger and larger numbers to make their homes on the 
Isthmus and to open the mines and to clear the ground. 
Travelers, too, stop at Panama, especially in the drier 
part of the year, to see the wonders of the canal and to 
enjoy the brilliant tropical beauty of the land. The state 
of Pennsylvania has a population of 6,000,000. Panama is 
two- thirds as large but has now only 400,000. "The time 
will come," said an American who lived for more than fifty 
years in Panama, "when the wild region now included 
within the limits of the Isthmus will be transformed into 
smiling summer lands where millions will find homes." 

Panama will undoubtedly be greatly blessed in the future 
by the coming of the canal, but will the canal itself in any 
way repay our government for its vast expenditure of 
money? Let us see what the chances are. 

Late in the year 191 2 President Taft issued a proclama- 
tion fixing the rates of toll to be paid by vessels passing 
through the waterway. Emery R. Johnson, Professor of 
Transportation and Commerce in the University of Pennsyl- 
vania, had made a careful study of all the facts related to 
canal tolls and the rates which he recommended were those 
finally adopted. Each 100 cubic feet of earning space in 



264 PANAMA AND SUEZ 

a vessel is called a vessel-ton. Though there are slightly 
lower rates for warships, colhers, hospital, and supply ships, 
and for vessels without cargoes, the usual merchant ship 
with cargo pays $1.20 per vessel- ton. This amounts to 
about 60 cents per ton of freight, or roughly one fifth of 
what was paid per ton to ship such cargo from Atlantic to 
Pacific by rail at Panama or Tehauntepec. 

This is about the same rate as is charged at Suez. To 
pass through the Suez Canal costs the average freight vessel 
about $8,000. Such a sum seems very large, and yet the 
additional cost of the much longer trip around Cape Good 
Hope is even more. Nearly all steam vessels bound for 
the ports of Asia from eastern United States or from Europe 
pay the toll and use the Suez Canal. Since it was opened 
its total receipts have been over $400,000,000. 

Now, whether our canal at Panama will bring in an equally 
large return or not no one can say with certainty. It 
Canal depends somewhat upon the growth of traffic 

Receipts -^ ^^^^ direction, the cost of fuel, and upon 

other similar considerations. The growth of commerce 
through Suez in the ten years following 1900 was 70 
per cent. Professor Johnson believed that in twenty or 
thirty years the traffic at Panama would equal that at 
Suez and that the receipts from tolls would not only pay the 
running expenses of the canal but begin to pay back into 
the treasury of the United States some part at least of the 
original cost. 



IN WAR TIME 265 

To the United States in time of war the canal will be of 
great value. "Naval experts have said that the canal 
doubles the efficiency of the American navy." We need 
no longer to have two fleets of battleships, one on the 
Pacific and one on the Atlantic, and separated from 
each other by the whole length of South in war 

America. By using the canal one large fleet ^™^ 

can guard both coasts with equal freedom. All our in- 
terests and possessions on the Pacific feel the military 
effect of the canal. By increasing the power of the United 
States in that ocean we may fairly hope that it will con- 
tribute much to the peace of the world. 

But how does the canal affect the United States in times 
of peace? This is much more important. We note first 
of all that the canal makes our eastern and western 
seacoasts practically one coast line, and Distances 

shortens enormously the distance between the Shortened 

two. A vessel that now leaves San Francisco for New 
York by way of the Strait of Magellan (Map IX) must 
travel 13,090 miles. By way of Panama the distance is 
but 5,300 miles, — or 7,790 miles saved. In the same 
manner more than 5,000 miles is saved between our Pacific 
ports and the ports of Europe. San Francisco is within 
14 days of New York, by steamers making 16 miles an hour, 
instead of 60 days, and within 21 days of any Enghsh port, 
instead of 35. This makes possible a great saving in the 
cost of shipping goods along these routes. Lumber, fish, 



266 



THE NATIONAL POLICE 




IN TIMES OF PEACE 267 

grain, and fruit from the Pacific states can reach our Atlantic 
ports or the ports of Europe and can be sold more cheaply 
and with greater profit. 

The canal also brings the Mississippi valley and the 
southern and eastern manufacturing states much nearer 
to the rich markets of eastern Asia and of the other Pacific 
countries, — -especially the western coast of Key to the 
South America. One half the population of Pacific 

the world dwells in the lands that border the Pacific. 
But, before the canal was built, our coal, iron, steel, cotton, 
and all manner of manufactured products could not reach 
the Pacific markets by water so cheaply and easily as could 
the products of Europe. Thus we lost the trade. With the 
canal opened the west coast of South America is 3,000 miles 
nearer to our ports than to those of Europe, and splendid 
new opportunities are offered to our merchants and manu- 
facturers. From New Orleans to Callao in Peru is 10,100 
miles by the Strait of Magellan, but by way of Panama it 
is only 2,750. From New York to Japan or China by Suez 
is more than 13,000 miles. By the Panama canal the dis- 
tance is 3,000 miles shorter. 

Nor is the United States the only gainer by this shorten- 
ing of distances. Far greater than in the days of Columbus 
is the modern demand for shorter and cheaper trade routes. 
Panama and Suez long kept the East and West apart 
and obstructed world-wide freedom of trade. The two 
Isthmuses are at last conquered. Of the Panama canal 



268 



TRADE ROUTES 




Map IX. — Influence of Panama Canal on Trade Routes. 



WORLD-WIDE FREEDOM OF TRADE 269 

President Wilson said: "It fails the imagination to think 
what this work will accomplish. It will create new 
neighbors. It will generate new friendships ; it will make 
a new atmosphere of rivalry and of generous association. 
The whole tendency of the routes of trade will be changed, 
and the routes of trade are the routes of enlightenment." 
Now that we are acquainted with Panama and its canal, 
we can join heartily in the opinion of that Chairman of 
the Isthmian Canal Commission who once said, "I be- 
lieve that when, through American generosity and under 
American control, the canal shall be thrown open to the 
commerce of the world, it will be hailed, and will prove to 
be, a priceless boon to all mankind." 




270 



INDEX 



Africa, west coast of, s 

Alliance, passage of, through Gatun 

locks, 234, 235 
Alligators, 66, 68, 103 
Amador Guerrero, Dr. Manuel, 87, 

138, 139 
America, North and South, coasts 

of, explored, 9 
Amundsen, Roald, 259 
Ancon, city of, 132 ; port of, 194 
Ancon Hill, 78, 79 
Animal life, 58-70 
Anopheles mosquito, 152, 153 
Ants, wood-eating, 96 
Armadilloes, 63, 64, 65 
Asia, coast of, 4 ; waterway to, 4 ; 

riches of, 5 ; shorter route to, 6 ; 

Portuguese route to, 9 
Atlantic Ocean, "Sea of Darkness," 3 
Atrato, river, 12 

Bahia de los Navios, 47 

Balboa, Vasco Nuriez de, 12, 13; 

escapes from Santo Domingo, 15; 

discovers Pacific Ocean, 17; death 

of, 18; 96 
Balboa, town of, 194; docks and 

machine shops at, 251 
Balboa, Panama coin, 135 
Balboa tree, 15 

Baldwin, James L., loi, 102, 103, 105 
Bamboo trees, 50 
Bananas, 54, 55, 56, 77 
Bas Obispo, 132 
Beach market, Panama, 83, 86 
Bishop's Palace, Panama, 80 
Black Swamp, near Colon, 103 



Blue herons, 58 

Bocas del Toro, 56 

Bogota, capital of Colombia, 36 

Bolivar, Simon, 36 

Bread-fruit, 57 

Brereton, F. S., Captain in English 

army, 217 
Bridge on the old road from Panama 

to Porto Bello, 21 
Bryce, James, 252 
Bubonic plague, 140, 150, 151 
Bury, Bishop, opinion of Colonel Gor- 

gas, 258 

Caledonia Bay, 72, 74 

Calentura, jungle fever, loi 

California, discovery of gold in, 98 

Callao, 267 

Canal receipts, 264 

Canal, St. Mary's Falls, 180 

Canal Zone, 132, 133, 135, 137, 138, 
144, 151, 152, 154, 155, 156, 174, 
186, 217, 250 

Cathedral bells, Panama, 83 

Cathedral of Panama, 80 

Cedar trees, 52 

Central America, waterways, 108 

Chagres River, 11, 29, 46, 50, 103, 
188, 193, 211, 213, 218 

Chagrestown, destroyed, 31 

Charcoal burners, 74 

Charles V of Spain, 108 

Chepo, Rio, 50 

Church, oldest Spanish, 32 

Clark, Captain, commander of battle- 
ship Oregon, 128 

Clay, Henry, 129 



273 



274 



INDEX 



Climate, 42, 44, 50 

Club-houses, 211 

Coal, 263 

Cockatoos, 58 

Cocoanut palm, 52, 77 

Cocoanuts, 52, 54 

Coco-bolo tree, 50 

Colombia, province of, 36; declared 

independent in 181 1, 36 
Colon, town of, 41, 46, 47 
Columbus, Bartholomew, 6 
Columbus, Christopher, 3, 4, 5; leaves 

Portugal, 6 ; voyages of, 7 ; enemies 

of, 7 ; return to Spain, 1 1 
Comogre, Indian chief, 16 
Concrete work, 217 
Congress, United States, 187 
Consulting engineers, board of, 187 
Cordillera de Bando, 48 
Corinth ship canal, 178, 189 
Corozal, sea-going dredge, 248 
Corsair, J. P. Morgan's yacht, 178, 179 
Cortes, Spanish ruler of Mexico, 97 
Cristobal, port of Colon, 132 
Cronstadt ship canal, 178 
Cuba, 7 

Cucaracha slide, 244, 245, 246 
Culebra Cut, 132, 188, 189, 190, 211, 

214, 215; town of, 209; completion 

of work, 237, 238, 239, 240; slides 

at, 243, 244, 245, 246 

Dampier, Captain, pirate, 28, 61-64 
Dams on Panama Canal route, 190, 

211, 218, 219, 220, 221 
Darien, Gulf of, 72, no 
Davies, pirate, 28 
Davis, Major-General George W., 132, 

255 

De Lesseps, Count Ferdinand, 114, 
116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 122, 123, 
125, 127; statue of, 127 

De Lesseps' Palace, 122, 125 

Diaz, Bartholomew, return to Por- 
tugal, 5 



Dipper, 195, 202, 204 

Disease, conquest of, 137 

Distances shortened by Panama Canal, 

265, 267 
Docks in the Canal Zone, 171 
Dredges, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 246 
Drilling holes in rock for blasting, 

199, 200, 239 

Dwelling-houses in Panama, 159, 163- 
Dynamite in excavation, 198, 199, 

200, 201 

Earthquakes, 192 

Empire, town in Panama, 132, 172, 

173, 174 

Engineers, Board of, 187 

English attempts to control water- 
ways on the Isthmus, 112 

Excavation, rapid work in, 206; in 
Culebra Cut, 216; completion of, 
237, 238, 239, 540 

Ferdinand and Isabella, 6 

Fire department, 136 

First locomotive across the Isthmus, 

106 
Flowers, brilliant coloring of, 50 
Food for the laborers, 162 
Fortifications at Panama, 249, 250 
Forty-niners, 98, 99 
French Canal Company at Panama, 

113, 117, 119, 123, 171 
French Canal, opening ceremonies of, 

114; failure of, 123; sale of, to 

United States, 131 
French machinery, 121, 124, 125, 

126, 171, 175 

Gaillard, Lieutenant-Colonel D. D., 

256, 258, 259 
Gama, Vasco da, 9 
Gamboa dike, blowing up of, 240, 241, 

242 
Gatun Dam, 190, 211, 218, 219, 220, 221 
Gatun Lake, 190, 219 



INDEX 



275 



Gatun locks, 213, 214, 218, 222, 223, 
224, 225, 226, 227, 228; first vessels 
to pass through, 231, 232, 233, 234, 
235, 236 

Gatun, town of, 132 

Genoa, markets of, 4 

Goethals, Colonel George W., appointed 
Governor of Canal Zone, 252; ser- 
vices as Chairman of Canal Commis- 
sion, 254, 256, 257; sketch of early 
career, 257, 258; special medal 
presented to, 259, 261 

Gold, greed for, by the Spanish, 22 

Gold HiU, 188, 214 

"Gold Men," 157, 158, 160, 167, 207 

Golden Castile, 12 

Gonzales, 108; crosses the Isthmus 
in 1521, 109 

Good Hope, Cape, 5, 6 

Gorgas, Colonel WilHam C, chief 
sanitary officer, Panama Canal Zone, 
144, 146, 147, 149, 255, 256, 257, 258, 

259 
Gorgona, 132 
Government established in Province 

of Panama, 133 
Grande, Rio, 50 
Grant, Ulysses S., 130 
"Grave of the Spaniards," 37 

Haiti, 7 

Healthful Panama, 155 

Herons, 58 

Highwa}^ robbers, 4 

Hodges, Lieutenant- Colonel H. F., 256, 

261 
Honduras, Cape, 9 
Hospitals on the Isthmus, 119, 146 
Humming-birds, 58 

Incas of Peru, 21 

Indians, 7, 10; San Bias, 65, 69, 70, 72 
Insects, noxious, loi 
Isthmian Canal Commission, 132, 136, 
137, 144, 156, 160, 162, 166, 171, 



172, 175, 176, 187, 255; members 
of, 255, 256,. 257, 258 

Isthmus of Panama, shape of, 42 ; 
location of, 42 ; temperature of, 
42 ; seasons at, 42 ; rainfalls in, 
44, 45 ; traffic across, 46, 47 

Isthmus of Suez, 116, 117, 118, 119, 
120, 127 

Itahan laborers, 166 

Jackson, Andrew, 130 

Jaguar, 59, 60 

Jamaica, Island of, 35 

Japan, 6 

Johnson, Professor Emery R., 263, 264 

King Charles II, 35 
King Ferdinand, 9, 12 
King John II, 5, 6, 7 

La Boca, 194 

Laborers, scarcity of, 103, 160; num- 
ber of, 156; wages and care of, 157, 

160 
Lake Huron, 180 
Lake Miraflores, 190 
Lake Nicaragua, 109 
Lake Superior, 180 
Lighting of locks, 230 
Lock canal, 177, 180, 181, 182, 183, 

184, 185, 190, 192, 193; diagram 

of, 192 
Locks, at Pedro Miguel and Miraflores, 

222; at Gatun, 222, 223, 224, 225, 

226, 227, 228 
Locomotive, first across the Isthmus, 

106 
Locomotives, Panama Railroad, 175, 

1 76 ; electric towing, at Panama 

Canal locks, 229, 230, 235 
Lusitania, 178 

Magellan, Strait of, 265, 267 
Mahogany trees, 52 
Malaria, 150, 152, 154 



276 



INDEX 



Mangoes, 57 

Manzanillo Lighthouse, 45, 46 

Markets of Panama, 83, 86 

Mediterranean Sea, 3, 4 

Mindi, 216 

Miraflores, 188; lake, 190; dam, 218; 

locks, 222, 229 
Money, Colombian, 133 ; in the Canal 

Zone, 135, 160 
Monkeys of Panama, 61, 62, 63 
Morgan, Henry, pirate, 28-35, 82, 

109, no, 262 
Mosquito brigades, 153 
Mosquitoes, 70, loi, 142, 151, 153, 

154; cost of extermination, 155 

National Geographic Society banquet. 
President Wilson's speech at, 259 

Native huts of Panama, 76 

Natives, of Panama, 70, 71, 103; 
climbing for cocoanuts, 51 

Negroes as workers, 160, 162, 176 

Nelson, British naval hero, 112; monu- 
ment, III 

Nicaragua canal, 109, 130, 131 

Nicaragua, Lake, 109, 131 

Nicuesa, 12; misfortunes of, 15, 16 

Nombre de Dios, 15 

Obaldia, President of the Republic of 

Panama, 88, 89 
Oil, 263 
Ojeda, 12, 13 
Oranges, 56 
Oregon, United States battleship, 128, 

129 

Palm trees, 52 

Panama Canal, 118, 119, 120, 193, 
194-271 

Panama hats, 84, 85 

Panama, Isthmus of, 10; the old 
city of, 31; walls of new city of, 
34; fall of the city of, 35; site of 
new city of, 35; department of 



Colombia, 36 ; Republic of, 36, 43 ; 
modern, 41 ; size of, 41 ; city of, 
48 ; population of Republic of, 48 ; 
white inhabitants of, 70; Gulf of, 
78; city of, 78-89; growth and 
future of, 262, 263 

Panama Railroad, 99-107 ; new route 
for, and improvement of, 249 

Papayas, 56, 57 

Parrots, 58 

Paterson, William, no 

Paying the laborers, 208, 209 

Pearl Islands, 19, 78 

Peary, Robert E., 259 

Pedrarias, Governor of the Isthmus, 
17; cruelties of, 18; builds road 
from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 19, 
96 

Pedro Miguel, town of, 132; locks 
and dam at, 190, 218, 222 

Pelicans, 58 

Peru, 20, 21 ; conquered by the Span- 
ish, 22; enormous wealth of, 22 

Peso, Spanish coin, 133 

Pineapples, 56 

Pirates, 4; Spanish commerce ruined 
by, 28 ; battle with, by the Span- 
iards, 31-35; 109 

Pizarro, Francisco, 13, 19, 20, 21 

Plague, 150 

Plantains, 77 

Plaza, Independence, in Panama city, 
80, 81, 82 

Polo, Marco, 4 

Porto Bello, harbor of, 10, 11, 19, 
22, 28, 29 

Portuguese explorers, 5 

Postage stamps in Panama, 135 

Prince Henry of Portugal, 5 

Railroad travel in Panama, cost of, 93 

Rainfall, 44, 45 

"Rat Brigade," 151 

Rats, diseases carried by, 150 

Receipts, canal, 264 



INDEX 



277 



Recreation of the workers, 160, 161 
Reliance, first vessel to sail around 

South America, 247, 248 
Reservoirs, 148 
Rice, 77 

Road-building, 96, 97 
Roadways, Central America, 93 
Roosevelt, Theodore, 130, 131, 132, 

187, 193 
Route of canal and railroad, 191 
Royal palm trees, 52, 155 

Safety devices, 229, 230 

Saint Augustin, tower of, 34, 35, 36 

St. Mary's Falls ship canal, Sault Ste. 

Marie, Michigan, 180, 183, 184 
San Bias Indians, 65, 69, 70, 72 
San Francisco, 265 
San Juan River, 109 
San Lorenzo, Fort, capture of, 31 
San Miguel, Gulf of, 72 
San Sebastian, 13, 15 
Santa Maria, Panama, 15, 16, 17 
Santo Domingo, 13 
Sault Ste. Marie, 180 
Scotch colony in Darien, no 
Scott, Lewis, pirate, 28 
Sea-level canal, 177, 178, 179, 180, 

187, 189, 190, 192, 193 
Seal of Panama-Pacific International 

Exposition, 253 
Seasons, 42, 44, 46 
Sea-wall, city of Panama, 99 
Sewers, 148 

Sharp, Captain, pirate, 28 
Ship canals, at Panama, 113-116; 

at Suez, 117, 118, 127, 178, 189, 265; 

at Cronstadt, 178; at Corinth, 178, 

179; 181, 182, 183, 184, 185 
Shonts, Theodore P., 162, 257 
Sibert, Lieutenant- Colonel W. L., 256, 

258, 259 
Sierra Leone, 5 
Sightseers at Panama, 218 
"Silver Men," 160, 166, 167 



Slides at Culebra Cut, 243, 244, 245, 246 

Snakes, 59 

Soil of Panama, 263 

Song birds, absence of, in the tropics, 58 

South America, west coast of, 21, 22, 267 

Spain, 7; her riches and power, 22, 23; 
effect of her conquests, 2 7 ; end 
of her power in the New World, 36 

Spaniards, greed for gold, 16; de- 
feated by pirates, 28-35 ! attempts 
of, to bviild canal, 109 

Spanish laborers, 165 

Spillway, Gatun Dam, 220, 221 

Steam shovels, 198-204, 238 

Stegomyia mosquito, 152, 153 

Stevens, John F., 257 

Storehouses, 173, 174 

Strain, Lieut. U. S. Navy, 72, 74 

Streets of Panama, 78, 80, 140, 142, 
143 ; of Colon, 142-149 

Suction dredges, 197-198 

Suez, Isthmus of, 1 16-120 

Suez ship canal, 117, 118, 127, 178, 189, 
265 

Supplies for laborers, 168, 169 

Swamps, near Colon, 48, 103 

Taboga, island of, 56, 78 

Taft, William H., 132, 193, 213, 220, 263 

Tapir, 65, 66 

Tawney, James A., chairman committee 
on appropriations, 217 

Tehuantepec Bay, 97 

Temperature, 42, 44 

Tides, at Colon and at city of Panama, 83 

Toll rates for use of canal, 263, 264 

Totten, Colonel G. M., loi, 105 

Trade routes, influence of Panama 
Canal on, 265, 266, 267 

Tropical fruits, 54, 55, 56, 57; vege- 
tation, 50, 58; diseases, 105, 119, 140 

Tuyra, Rio, 50 

United States and Panama, 128-176, 
254-269 



278 



INDEX 



Vegetation, 50, 58 

Venice, merchants in, 4 

Vessels to make first passage of locks 

and canal, 231-236, 247-249 
Vultures, 58 

Walker, John G., rear-admiral, 255 

Wallace, John F., engineer, 255 

War, use of Panama Canal in time of, 265 

Warrees, 60, 61 

Washington, George, 36 

Waste and extravagance in building 

French Canal, 120 
Water lizard of Panama, 66 
Water supply in the Canal Zone, 148, 150 



Waterways across Central America, 

108 
West India Islands, 7, 9 
Wild hogs, 60 

Wilson, President, 242, 259, 269 
Women of Panama, 75 
Working force for building canal, 156, 

218 

Yams, 77 

Yellow fever, 70, 119, 138, 140, 150, 

151, 152, 154 
Y. M. C. A., 160 
Yucatan, 9 
Yucca, 77 



